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ELEMENTARY 


PEDAGOGY 


BY 

LEVI  SEELEY,  Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR    OF   THE    SCIENCE   AND   ART   OF   EDUCATION, 
IN    THE    NEW   JERSEY   STATE   NORMAL     SCHOOL, 
AUTHOR  OF  "A  NEW  SCHOOL  MANAGE- 
MENT,"    "THE     FOUNDATIONS 
OF  EDUCATION,"  ETC. 


HINDS,    NOBLE   &    ELDREDGE, 

31-33-35  West  15th  Street, 

NEW  YORK   CITY 


-^XO^^ 


P 


\^^ 


Copyright,  1906, 

BY 

HINDS,  NOBLE  &  ELDREDGE 


>'     or  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


PREFACE 


The  subject  of  pedagogy  is  very  generally  regarded  by 
young  teachers  with  a  certain  amount  of  dread.  They 
think  of  it  as  dry,  difficult,  uninteresting,  and  hard  to 
comprehend.  Were  it  not  that  examining  boards  and 
superintendents  require  that  candidates  for  certificates 
shall  possess  a  knowledge  of  pedagogy  and  pass  an  exam- 
ination in  that  subject,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  many  teachers 
would  never  study  it.  And  yet,  it  is  one  of  the  most  valu- 
able subjects,  and  one  of  the  most  profitable  that  can 
engage  the  attention  of  the  instructor.  It  not  only  gives 
a  broad  view  of  the  work  of  education,  but  it  may  also  be 
a  most  potent  aid  in  solving  the  problems  of  the  school- 
room. Hence  it  is  necessary  and  invaluable  to  every 
teacher. 

Nor  need  the  subject  be  dry  or  distasteful  even  to  the 
young  and  untrained  beginner.  Indeed,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  subjects  that  demand  the  attention  of 
those  to  whom  is  committed  the  education  of  the  young. 
Taste  for  any  kind  of  literature  is  a  growth.  It  has  seemed 
to  me  that  works  on  general  pedagogy  have  presupposed 
a  development  too  advanced  in  educational  thought  on 
the  part  of  the  beginner,  and  therefore  have  discouraged 
him  at  the  outset.  The  attempt  is  made  in  this  book  to 
provide  material  for  the  beginner  in  the  study  of  pedagogy. 
Let  this  not  be  forgotten. 

The  method  employed  is  largely  inductive.     Through 

iii 

155023 


fv  Preface 

numerous  concrete  illustrations  the  student  is  led  up  to 
the  general  truth.  At  the  close  of  each  chapter  one  or 
more  principles  are  stated  which  summarize  the  teachings 
of  the  chapter  in  as  compact  a  form  as  possible.  The  sum 
total  of  these  principles  constitutes  an  educational  phi- 
losophy—  not  a  complete  or  exhaustive  philosophy,  by  any 
means,  but  one  that  is  believed  to  introduce  the  most  im- 
portant educational  thought  of  the  day.  The  final  word 
in  educational  theory  has  not  been  spoken,  and  never  will 
be  spoken,  for  new  conditions  arouse  new  interests  and 
bring  forth  new  problems.  Questions  that  attracted  atten- 
tion a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  have  been  settled,  — 
some  of  them  at  least  —  and  new  ones  are  constantly 
arising.  Therefore  it  is  not  claimed  that  this  book  is  ex- 
haustive, even  upon  the  questions  it  discusses.  Educational 
philosophy  should  be  a  guide  to  the  teacher  as  to  the  course 
of  study,  method  of  instruction,  discipline,  educational 
means  and  ends,  elements  that  enter  into  the  problem  of 
education,  etc.  If  pedagogy  can  furnish  this  guide  to  the 
teacher,  surely  it  is  a  most  important  study. 
The  following  plan  of  study  is  recommended : 

1.  Take  the  outline  of  a  chapter  as  a  scheme  or  plan 
and  consider  each  topic  in  order. 

2.  Read  the  discussion  under  each  topic  in  the  text,  and 
investigate  the  subject  as  thoroughly  as  may  be  in  the 
works  of  reference  given  at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter 
and  in  the  foot-notes.  This  opens  a  field  for  unlimited 
study  and  therefore  suggests  material  not  only  for  begin- 
ners, but  also  for  the  most  advanced  students  of  pedagogy. 

3.  Commit  to  memory  the  principles  stated  at  the  end 
of  the  chapter.     This  fixes  the  truth  and  lays  it  away  for 


PREFACE  V 

future  use  when  needed.  For  justification  of  this  sugges- 
tion, see  page  93. 

4.  Reverse  the  process  by  way  of  review,  employing  the 
deductive  method;  that  is,  starting  with  the  principle,  see 
if  the  student  has  understood  and  can  apply  it. 

It  is  very  important  that  breadth  of  vision  be  gained  by 
reading  as  many  as  possible  of  the  works  cited  as  well  as 
other  pedagogical  literature. 

It  may  be  repeated  that  this  book  is  designed  for  be- 
ginners in  the  study  of  pedagogy,  —  for  students  in  normal 
and  training  schools;  for  teachers'  classes  and  reading 
circles;  for  the  teacher  in  the  country  school,  isolated  from 
colaborers  and  sympathetic  advisers  and  obliged  to  pursue 
her  way  alone;  indeed,  for  the  young  teacher  everywhere; 
and  for  the  earnest  student  of  education  in  whatever  field. 
To  all  such,  may  this  book  prove  a  blessing. 

Due  credit  should  be  given  to  the  influence  of  Rosen- 
kranz's  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  in  shaping  the  plan 
of  the  book.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  work  has  yet  appeared 
that  marks  so  definite  an  educational  philosophy  as  this 
treatise,  which  has  for  nearly  half  a  century  claimed  the 
attention  of  educational  thinkers.  Therefore  the  author 
gratefully  acknowledges  its  influence  upon  him  in  his  teach- 
ing and  in  the  preparation  of  this  volume.  I  have  also 
quoted  freely  from  other  authors  that  have  been  a  help 
and  inspiration  to  me.  It  seems  to  me  just  and  honest, 
if  some  one  has  originated  a  thought  or  discovered  a  truth 
that  I  wish  to  use  in  support  of  a  position,  to  give  that 
person  credit  for  his  contribution.  Hence  there  is  no 
apology  for  the  numerous  quotations. 

In  addition  to  the  help  from  these  sources,  which  has 


Vl  PREFACE 

been  duly  recognized,  I  desire  especially  to  acknowledge 
the  valuable  assistance  and  advice  of  Dr.  James  M.  Green, 
Principal  of  the  New  Jersey  Normal  School;  of  my  col- 
leagues, Dr.  H.  B.  Boise,  and  Dr.  E.  F.  Carr,  and  of  the 
Rev.  Henry  Colin  Minton,  D.D. 

L.  Seeley. 

State  Normal  School,  Trenton,  N.  J. 


ANALYSIS    OF   CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 
Introduction '^°j 

I.  Educational  theory  embraces,  (a)  history  of  education,  (b) 
method,  (c)  school  management,  (d)  a  knowledge  of  subject- 
matter,  (e)  a  knowledge  of  man  (psychology),  (f)  philosophy  of 
education.     2.   Office  of  psychology  and  pedagogy  respectively. 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Aim  OF  Education 8 

I.   As  viewed   at  different   periods.     2.   Spencer^s  definition. 

3.  Education    as   an    aim.     4.   Harmonious    development.     5. 
What  is  character?     6.   Other  views. 

CHAPTER   III. 

The  Science  of  Education      22 

I.  Is  there  a  science  of  education  ?  —  opinions  of  leading  edu- 
cators. 2.  Science  defined.  3.  Reasons  for  there  being  a  science 
of  education,  (a)  educational  principles  established,  (b)  scientific 
works  on  education,  (c)  organized  study  of  the  subject,  (d)  chairs 
of  pedagogy  maintained,  (e)  long  recognized  as  such 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Who  can  be  Educated  ?     35 

I.  Educating  and  training.  2.  Self -activity.  3.  Comparison 
of  man  with  lower  animals,  (a)  instinct,  (b)  sense-perception,  (c) 
imagination,  memory,  (d)  reason,  (e)  the  power  of  abstraction. 

4.  Man  alone  can  be  educated. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Elective  Studies 49 

I.  The  course  of  study.  2.  Nature  of  course  of  study,  (a)  sub- 
jects must  be  properly  correlated,  (b)  essentials  of  culture  in  the 

vii 


Vlli  ANALYSIS  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGB 

elementary  course,  (c)  must  be  well  balanced  and  symmetrical, 
(d)  takes  into  account  the  stages  of  the  child's  development,  (e) 
must  meet  the  aim  it  intends  to  meet.  3.  Election  in  the  ele- 
mentary school,  (a)  the  period  of  character-forming,  (b)  influence 
of  the  grade  teacher.  4.  Election  in  the  high  school  —  different 
courses  therein.     5.   Election  in  higher  institutions  of  learning. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

The  Gaining  of  Knowledge 60 

I.  The  senses  as  means  of  gaining  knowledge.  2.  Choice 
of  material.  3.  Old  material  to  be  utiKzed.  4.  The  work  of 
the  teacher  —  rendering  assistance.  5.  The  apperceptive  pro- 
cess, (a)  choice  and  arrangement  of  material,  (b)  the  child  and 
his  store  of  experience,  (c)  the  process  of  teaching. 

CHAPTER   VII. 

The  Process  of  Education 83 

I.  Real  purpose  of  the  school.  2.  The  formal  steps  of  the 
recitation,  (a)  preparation  —  illustration,  (b)  presentation,  (c) 
association,  (d)  recapitulation  —  use  of  rules,  (e)  application. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

Methods  of  Instruction 100 

I.  Knowledge  and  method.  2.  Method  a  guide.  3.  Care 
in  using  illustrations.  4.  Personality  of  the  teacher  a  factor  in 
method.  5.  Definition  of  method.  6.  Self-improvement  essen- 
tial to  method.  7.  Different  methods,  (a)  analytic,  (b)  synthetic, 
(c)  inductive,  (d)  deductive. 

CHAPTER  TX. 

Play  as  an  Educational  Factor 116 

I.  A  natural  tendency  of  the  young.  2.  The  kindergarten  — 
its  dangers.  3.  The  clothing  of  children.  4.  The  meaning  of 
play.  5.  Definition  of  work  and  play.  6.  Purpose  of  play. 
7.   Teacher's  part  in  games.     8.   Play  vs.  work.     9.   Playthings. 


ANALYSIS  OF  CONTENTS  IX 

CHAPTER  X. 

PAGE 

Habits  and  their  Formation 135 

I.  What  is  habit  ?  —  (a)  physical  habits,  (b)  intellectual  habits, 
(c)  moral  habits,  (d)  religious  habits.  2.  Choice  of  habits.  3. 
The  changing  of  habits.     4.    Obedience.     5.   Punishment. 

CHAPTER   XI. 
Educational  Limitations 159 

I.  Education  is  emancipation.  2.  Dulness  not  incapacity. 
3.  Self-activity  —  views  of  Froebel  and  Herbart.  4.  Self-em- 
ployment. 5.  Self-control.  6.  Material  means  of  education. 
7.  The  power  of  self-direction.  8.  Advantages  of  superior  edu- 
cation. 

CHAPTER   XII. 

Factors  in  the  Education  of  the  Child 180 

I.  Primitive  education.  2.  Importance  of  education.  3. 
The  home.  4.  The  school.  5.  "Fads."  6.  Civil  society. 
7.    The  state.     8.   The  church. 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

Physical  Development 198 

I.  A  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body.  2.  Nourishment.  3. 
Food.  4.  Clothing.  5.  Cleanliness.  6.  Fatigue  and  rest.  7. 
Gymnastics. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Intellectual  Development 216 

I.  Self-activity.  2,  Attention,  (a)  isolation,  (b)  analysis, 
(c)  abstraction,  (d)  finding  relations.  3.  Practical  suggestions 
as  to  attention,  (a)  see  to  material  conditions,  (b)  require  proper 
attitude,  (c)  awaken  interest,  (d)  use  judgment  as  to  length  of 
recitation,  (e)  never  teach  without  attention.     4.   Industry. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Three  Stages  of  Intellectual  Development 233 

I.  Sense-perception.  —  i.  Perception  depends  upon,  (a)  the 
number  of  sensations  received,  (b)  the  order  in  which  the  sensa- 
tions are  received,  (c)  the  vividness  of  the  sensations,  (d)  the 


ANALYSIS  OF  CONTENTS 

associations  connected  with  it,  (e)  attention  to  details.  2.  Use 
of  pictures.  3.  Making  collections.  4.  Training  the  ear. 
II.  Imagination  —  i.  Creative  imagination.  2.  Cultivating 
the  imagination.  3.  Myths  and  fairy  tales.  4.  Good  taste  for 
literature.  5.  Memory.  6.  Training  the  memory.  III.  Rea- 
son—  I.   Training  the  logical  powers.     2.   The  use  of  the  rule. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Act  of  Learning 259 

I.  Education  a  process  of  cancellation.  2.  Instruction  the 
principal  work  of  the  school.  3.  The  professionally  taught  and 
the  self-taught.  4.  The  course  of  study.  5.  What  the  elemen- 
tary school  should  accomplish.  6.  Arrangement  of  the  daily 
program.  7.  Means  of  learning.  8.  Text -books.  9.  Oral 
instruction.  10.  Agencies  of  instruction.  11.  Kinds  of 
schools,  (a)  elementary,  (b)  secondary,  (c)  undergraduate,  (d) 
graduate,  (e)  special.     12.    Management  of  the  school. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Will  Training 288 

I.  The  will  —  will  defined.  2.  Obedience  to  authority  the 
first  step  in  training  the  will.  3.  Will  trained  by  teaching  con- 
formity to  social  customs.  4.  Will  trained  through  formation 
of  habits.  5.  Good  character  the  result  of  right  will  training. 
6.   Moral  training  in  the  school. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Religious  Education 307 

I.  Religion  a  universal  principle.  2.  Dissatisfaction  as  to 
the  present  religious  instruction.  3.  Education  to  be  complete  in- 
cludes reUgion.  4.  What  reUgious  education  embraces,  (a)  rever- 
ence, (b)  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  (c)  prayer,  (d)  a  conception  of 
religion,  (e)  initiation  to  religious  forms.  5.  Agencies  of  religious 
instruction,  (a)  the  home,  (b)  the  church,  (c)  the  school.  6.  The 
state  and  religion.     7.   ReHgion  defined. 


ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 


CHAPTER   I 
INTRODUCTION 


General  References.*  —  Rosenkranz,  Philosophy  of  Education; 
Prince,  Courses  and  Methods;  Spencer ,  Education;  Payne,  Contri- 
butions to  the  Science  of  Education;  Parker,  Talks  on  Pedagogics; 
Boone,  Science  of  Education;  Home,  Philosophy  of  Education; 
McMurry,  General  Method;  White,  Elements  of  Pedagogy;  Ogden, 
Science  of  Education;  Butler,  The  Meaning  of  Education;  Edu- 
cational Review, 

Every  teacher  should  be  grounded  in  educational  theory. 
It  is  said  that  "Experience  is  a  good  schoolmaster,"  but 
experience  gained  in  the  schoolroom  is  expensive  both  to 
the  child  and  to  the  teacher,  unless  it  be  preceded  on  the 
part  of  the  latter  by  a  study  of  educational  philosophy. 
Such  philosophical  study  should  prevent  many  mistakes 
and  enable  the  teacher  to  give  his  pupils  the  best  that  the 
world  has  yet  learned.  Nothing  less  than  this  is  their 
due,  and  the  teacher  must  be  prepared  to  offer  nothing 
less.     Hence  the  necessity  of  a  knowledge  of  pedagogy. 

But  what  does  educational  theory  embrace?  What  are 
the  subjects  that  a  scheme  of  general  pedagogy  must  in- 

*  The  references  here  given  are  those  that  are  employed  throughout  the 
whole  study  of  the  subject.  Special  references  will  be  given  at  the  head 
of  each  chapter  touching  the  topics  therein  treated,  but  these  are  for  general 
and  constant  use. 


2  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

elude?     The  answer  is  as  follows,  and  this  is  the  order 
in  which  the  subjects  should  be  taken: 

A  ICnowledge  of  Man,  which  enables  the  teacher  to  care 
for  the  physical  well-being  of  his  pupils,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  also  makes  him  acquainted  with  the  intellectual  activi- 
ties and  the  laws  that  govern  those  activities,  that  is,  with 
psychology,  on  the  other  hand.  It  includes  a  knowledge 
of  man's  moral  and  religious  nature. 

History  of  Education,  which  describes  the  educational 
movements  of  the  past;  sets  forth  the  lives  and  teachings 
of  great  thinkers  who  have  written  educational  works  or 
who  have  been  great  teachers;  outlines  the  systems  and 
theories  of  education  that  have  been  promulgated;  traces 
the  advance  of  civilization  through  educational  means; 
gives  warning  as  to  the  errors  of  the  past;  and  suggests  new 
fields  for  future  improvement  and  investigation.  The 
history  of  education  is  semi-academic  in  character  and, 
therefore,  it  furnishes  a  natural  link  between  the  purely 
academic  and  the  professional  training  of  the  teacher. 

Method,  which  treats  of  the  natural,  orderly,  and  syste- 
matic manner  of  presenting  the  material  to  the  mind  and 
of  the  relative  values  of  subject-matter;  or,  as  Kant  puts 
it,  *^  Method  is  procedure  according  to  principles."  A 
knowledge  of  method  is  essential  to  the  theoretical  prep- 
aration of  the  teacher. 

School  Management,  which  considers  school  discipline^ 
good  order,  proper  habits,  correct  morals,  relation  of  the 
school  to  the  community,  as  well  as  other  matters  con- 


INTRODUCTION  3 

nected  with  the  internal  affairs  of  the  school,  such  as, 
promotion,  grading,  and  classification,  the  daily  schedule, 
school  incentives,  relation  of  teachers  to  their  pupils  and 
to  those  in  authority  over  them,  school  hygiene,  etc. 

^  A  Knowledge  of  Subject-matter,  not  only  from  the  culture 
standpoint,  but  also  concerning  its  value  for  the  purpose 
of  intellectual' discipline.  This  must,  of  course,  include 
a  far  broader  range  of  material  than  the  specific  subjects 
that  one  is  called  upon  to  teach.  The  teacher  must  possess 
a  reserve  of  knowledge  upon  which  he  can  draw  at  all 
times  to  the  increased  advantage  of  his  pupils. 

Philosophy  of  Education,  in  which  the  climax  of  pro- 
fessional training  is  reached.  It  states  the  aim,  determines 
the  nature,  and  defines  the  limits  of  education.  In  a  sense, 
the  philosophy  of  education  summarizes  the  teachings  and 
gathers  up  the  lessons  taught  by  the  foregoing  subjects. 
It  gives  a  broad  view  of  the  whole  field  of  education  and 
brings  every  act  of  teaching  to  the  test  of  sound  phil- 
osophy as  a  basis. 

Psychology  and  Pedagogy.  —  There  is  a  close  relation- 
ship between  psychology  and  pedagogy.  It  may  be  well 
to  consider  this  relationship  and  point  out  the  field  that 
each  should  seek  to  cover.  Joseph  Payne  says,  "Psy- 
chology is  the  basis  of  all  the  practical  sciences  which 
have  to  do  with  the  moral  faculties  of  man;  but  the  other 
sciences  which  are  derived  from  psychology  treat  of  but 
certain  energies  of  the  human  soul  —  logic,  of  thought, 
aesthetics,  of  the  sentiment  of  the  beautiful,  ethics,  of  the 


4  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

soul.  Pedagogy  alone  embraces  all  the  faculties  of  the 
soul  and  should  put  under  contribution  the  whole  of  psy- 
chology." Professor  James  emphatically  cautions  teachers 
as  to  the  limitations  of  psychology.  He  says/  *^You 
make  a  great  mistake,  if  you  think  that  psychology, 
being  the  science  of  the  mind's  laws,  is  something  from 
which  you  can  deduce  definite  programmes  and  schemes 
and  methods  of  instruction  for  immediate  schoolroom 
use.  .  .  .  Everywhere  the  teaching  must  agree  with  the 
psychology,  but  need  not  be  the  only  kind  of  teaching, 
that  would  so  agree  with  psychological  laws.''  He  further 
adds,  "To  know  psychology,  therefore,  is  absolutely  no 
guaranty  that  we  shall  be  good  teachers.  To  advance  to 
that  result,  we  must  have  an  additional  endowment  alto- 
gether, a  happy  tact  and  ingenuity  to  tell  us  what  definite 
things  to  say  and  do  when  the  pupil  is  before  us.  That 
ingenuity  in  meeting  and  pursuing  the  pupil,  that  tact  for 
the  concrete  situations,  though  they  are  the  alpha  and 
omega  of  the  teacher's  art,  are  things  to  which  psychology 
cannot  help  us  in  the  least.  But  if  the  use  of  psychological 
principles  thus  be  negative  rather  than  positive,  it  does 
not  follow  that  it  may  not  be  a  great  use,  all  the  same.  It 
certainly  narrows  the  path  for  experiments  and  trials.  We 
know  in  advance,  if  we  are  psychologists,  that  certain 
methods  will  be  wrong,  so  our  psychology  saves  us  from 
mistakes.  It  makes  us,  moreover,  more  clear  as  to  what 
we  are  about.  We  gain  confidence  in  respect  to  any 
method  which  we  are  using  as  soon  as  we  believe  that  it 
has  theory  as  well  as  practice  at  its  back.  Most  of  all, 
it  fructifies  our  independence,  and  it  reanimates  our  in- 
*  "Talks  to  Teachers,"  p.  7. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

terest,  to  see  our  subject  at  two  different  angles  —  to  get 
a  stereoscopic  view,  so  to  speak,  of  the  youthful  organism 
who  is  an  enemy,  and,  while  handling  him  with  all  our 
concrete  tact  and  divination,  to  be  able,  at  the  same  time, 
to  represent  to  ourselves  the  curious  inner  elements  of  his 
mental  machine.  Such  a  complete  knowledge  as  this  of 
the  pupil,  at  once  intuitive  and  analytic,  is  surely  the  knowl- 
edge at  which  every  teacher  ought  to  aim. 

"Fortunately  for  you  teachers,  the  elements  of  the 
mental  machine  can  be  clearly  apprehended,  and  their 
workings  easily  grasped.  And,  as  the  most  general  ele- 
ments and  workings  are  just  those  parts  of  psychology 
which  the  teacher  finds  most  directly  useful,  it  follows  that 
the  amount  of  this  science  which  is  necessary  to  all  teachers 
need  not  be  very  great." 

Accepting  in  general  this  view,  we  may  think  of  the  field 
of  psychology  as  dealing  with  the  laws  and  activities  of 
the  mind;  as  including  a  study  of  instinct,  imitation,  sense- 
perception,  memory,  imagination,  reasoning,  generalizing; 
and,  in  a  teacher's  course,  the  consideration  of  psychologi- 
cal phenomena  —  the  study  of  children.  Pedagogy  treats 
of  the  application  of  the  principles  discovered  by  psycho- 
logical research.  It  is  based  on  ethics  as  well  as  on  psy- 
chology, ethics  pointing  out  the  end  of  education,  and 
psychology,  the  way,  the  means  of  reaching  the  end. 
Pedagogy,  according  to  Rosenkranz,  treats  of  the  aim,  the 
nature,  and  the  form  of  education.  It  discusses  the  rela- 
tion of  teachers  to  pupils;  it  considers  the  various  factors 
of  education,  such  as,  the  home,  the  school,  the  store, 
society,  and  the  church;  it  treats  of  methods  of  instruction, 
of  the  school  program,  of  the  course  of  study,  of  physical. 


6  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

intellectual,  and  moral  growth;  of  securing  and  holding 
the  attention;  of  interest;  of  the  formation  of  habits,  of 
self-activity,  of  that  discipline  which  aims  at  self-control. 
In  a  word,  it  views  the  whole  development  of  the  individual, 
not  only  during  school  life,  but  after  leaving  school,  and 
seeks  to  compass  that  development  in  a  natural,  systematic, 
logical,  and  economical  manner. 

If  some  topics,  such  as  habit,  attention,  self-activity, 
memory,  imagination,  reason,  etc.,  receive  treatment  in 
both  psychology  and  pedagogy,  the  former  considers  the 
mental  laws  involved,  while  the  latter  considers  their 
practical  application  to  educational  problems.  The  con- 
sideration of  the  same  subjects  from  a  double  standpoint, 
namely,  that  of  psychology  and  that  of  pedagogy,  thus, 
instead  of  being  a  waste  may  prove  to  be  the  very  best 
economy.  To  quote  again  from  Professor  James,  *^It 
reanimates  our  interest  —  to  see  our  subject  at  two  dif- 
ferent angles. '^  The  study  of  psychology,  which  precedes 
that  of  pedagogy,  prepares  the  student  to  comprehend  the 
field  undertaken  by  pedagogy,  and  to  apply  the  principles 
discovered  to  living  and  practical  educational  problems. 

While  the  field  of  pedagogy  embraces  history  of  educa- 
tion, school  management,  methods,  psychology,  and  ethics, 
just  as  geometry  embraces  arithmetic  and  algebra,  a  knowl- 
edge of  these  subjects  is  presupposed,  and  therefore  they 
are  not  considered  here.  The  question  before  us  is  of 
educational  philosophy;  of  the  problems  of  educational 
thought  rather  than  of  school  practice;  of  theories  that 
are  to  be  established;  of  principles  that  shall  guide  in  con- 
structing courses  of  study,  in  the  employment  of  methods, 
in  formulating  schedules,  and  in  school  government;  and 


INTRODUCTION  7 

of  that  all-round  and  complete  development  of  the  child 
which  shall  prepare  him  for  good  citizenship,  and  which 
shall  enable  him  to  make  the  most  of  the  capacity  that 
God  has  given  him. 

Summary 

Pedagogy  is  the  science  of  teaching.  It  states  the  aim, 
determines  the  nature,  and  marks  the  limits  of  education. 
It  presupposes  psychology,  is  founded  upon  ethics,  and  em- 
braces in  its  scope  history  of  education,  school  management, 
and  method.  It  discusses  educational  prohle^ns  from  a  phil- 
osophical standpoint  and  shows  their  application. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE   AIM   OF   EDUCATION 

References.  —  Rosenkranz,  Philosophy  of  Education;  Prince, 
Courses  and  Methods;  McMurry,  General  Method;  Spencer,  Edu- 
cation; Payne,  Contributions  to  the  Science  of  Education;  Parker, 
Talks  on  Pedagogics;  De  Motte,  Character  Building;  Payne,  Edu- 
cation of  Teachers;  Roark,  Method  in  Education;  Coler,  Character 
Building;  Home,  Philosophy  of  Education;  Shearer,  Morals  and 
Manners;  Smith,  Systematic  Methodology;  White,  School  Man- 
agement; Elements  of  Pedagogy;  Laurie,  Primary  Instruction; 
Barnett,  Common  Sense  in  Education  and  Teaching;  Briggs,  School, 
College,  and  Character. 

The  question,  ''What  is  the  aim  of  education?"  has 
engaged  the  attention  of  thinkers  for  many  centuries.  The 
answer  to  it  has  been  colored  by  national  characteristics, 
by  the  needs  of  a  people,  by  the  spirit  that  has  dominated 
the  age,  and  by  the  state  of  civilization  attained.  Indeed, 
the  answer  to  this  question  may  have  had  a  great  deal  to 
do  in  forming  the  character  of  individuals  and  of  nations, 
and  in  making  prominent  certain  influences  which  have 
affected  the  world  in  different  ages.  In  China,  for  example, 
the  aim  of  education  for  thousands  of  years  has  been  to 
maintain  the  estabHshed  order  of  society,  and  to  teach 
respect  for  traditions  and  ancestral  customs.  In  India, 
it  was  to  preserve  the  ancient  castes,  and  prepare  for  absorp- 
tion into  Nirvana.  In  Persia  and  Sparta,  it  was  to  pre- 
pare for  war,  to  give  physical  strength,  and  foster  moral 
rectitude.  To  the  early  Jews,  it  meant  training  to  respect 
lawj  and  reverence  Jehovah.    Athens  would  have  a  beau- 

8 


THE  AIM  OF  EDUCATION  9 

tiful  soul  in  a  beautiful  body,  while  the  ideal  in  Rome  was 
"To  make  a  man  fit  to  perform  justly,  skilfully,  and  mag- 
nanimously all  the  offices,  both  public  and  private,  of 
peace  and  war/' 

The  aim  of  education  according  to  Socrates  was  "To 
dispel  error  and  discover  truth,"  while  Plato  defined  it  to 
be,  "To  give  the  body  and  soul  all  the  beauty  and  all  the 
perfection  of  which  they  are  capable,"  a  definition  which 
was  quite  Athenian.  Quintilian,  on  the  other  hand,  voiced 
the  spirit  of  the  Rome  of  his  period  by  teaching  that  the 
purpose  of  education  was  to  make  orators.  Seneca  anti- 
cipated Herbert  Spencer  when  he  declared  that  education 
is  "Not  for  school,  but  for  life."  Charlemagne,  with  the 
wise  statesmanship  which  comprehended  the  existing  con- 
ditions in  which  only  the  favored  few  received  any  educa- 
tion at  all,  declared  the  aim  of  education  to  be  "To  make 
intelligent  citizens."  Very  naturally  the  monastic  schools 
sought  to  make  education  further  the  interests  of  the 
Church,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Burgher  schools 
would  train  for  the  practical  needs  of  life. 

Modern  educators  have  also  considered  the  problem 
from  the  standpoint  of  modern  conditions,  and  as  civiliza- 
tion has  advanced,  their  answer  to  the  question  becomes 
broader  and  more  comprehensive.  Comenius,  the  Mora- 
vian preacher,  declares  the  aim  to  be,  "To  attain  eternal 
happiness  in  and  with  God,  through  Education."  Francke, 
the  Pietist,  who  founded  the  great  orphan  asylum  at  Halle, 
says  it  is  "To  prepare  for  a  life  of  usefulness  and  piety," 
while  Locke,  the  great  English  philosopher,  who  had 
been  an  invalid  all  his  life,  borrows  from  Aristotle  an  idea 
which  he  sums  up  in  the  words,  "A  sound  mind  in  a  sound 


lO  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

body."  Pestalozzi,  with  perhaps  a  larger  vision  than  any 
of  his  predecessors,  says  it  is  the  ''Natural,  progressive,  and 
systematic  development  of  all  the  powers  of  man."  Froebel 
adds  to  this  idea  when  he  defines  it  to  be,  ''To  direct  the 
natural  activities  to  useful  ends." 

Spencer's  Definition.  —  Perhaps  Spencer's  definition  of 
education  has  received  the  most  general  acceptance;  it 
has  at  least  provoked  the  widest  discussion.  He  says, 
"To  prepare  us  for  complete  Hving  is  the  function  which 
education  has  to  discharge;  and  the  only  rational  mode 
of  judging  of  any  educational  course  is,  to  judge  in  what 
degree  it  discharges  such  function."  The  difficulty  with 
this  defiaiition  is  that  it  needs  defining,  for  one  may  well 
ask,  "What  is  complete  living?"  To  the  Indian  in  the 
far  West  it  would  mean  plenty  of  game,  freedom  from  re- 
straint, with  absence  of  what  men  call  work;  to  the  devotee 
of  fashion,  the  whirl  of  society,  the  admiration  of  others, 
the  gratification  of  the  desire  for  personal  adornment;  to 
the  actor,  the  excitement,  applause,  and  environment  of 
the  play-house;  to  the  enthusiast  in  any  vocation  or  enter- 
prise, the  fulfillment  of  his  ambitious  purposes  and  success 
in  whatever  undertaken.  To  the  Chinaman  it  would  mean 
one  thing,  to  the  Hindu  another,  and  to  the  Frenchman 
another.  In  one  age  it  would  require  one  interpretation 
and  in  a  different  age  another.  It  is  true  that  education 
is  adaptation  to  the  age  or  the  people  involved,  as  we  have 
already  seen.  But  Waitz  says,  "There  must  be  a  universal 
pedagogy  for  Greeks  and  Romans,  as  well  as  for  pagans, 
Jews,  and  Christians;  for  ancient  and  modern  peoples;  for 
those  of  original  as  well  as  those  of  derived  culture."     It 


THE  AIM  OF  EDUCATION  II 

will  be  obvious,  then,  that  *' complete  living"  as  a  defini- 
tion of  education  does  not  suffice,  inasmuch  as  it  needs 
interpretation  as  to  its  meaning,  and  as  that  meaning  varies 
according  to  ideals  and  circumstances. 

The  most  of  the  definitions  quoted  regard  education  as 
an  aim.  Many  educators,  especially  German,  consider  it 
from  the  standpoint  of  its  Latin  root- word,  educere^  to  lead 
forth;  they  interpret  it  to  mean  to  bring  up  the  child.  To 
them  education  is  a  process  rather  than  an  aim.  Thus 
Rosenkranz  defines  it  as  follows:  ''Education  is  the  influ- 
encing of  man  by  man,  and  it  has  for  its  end  to  lead  him 
to  actualize  himself  through  his  own  efforts.  The  attain- 
ment of  perfect  manhood  as  the  actuahzation  of  the  free- 
dom essential  to  mind  constitutes  the  nature  of  education 
in  general."^  Waitz  also  says,  "In  education  two  indi- 
viduals stand  opposite  each  other,  one  ripe  and  in  a  meas- 
ure at  least  master  of  himself,  and  the  other  possessing 
possibilities,  but  still  largely  undeveloped,  but  capable  of 
responding  to  external  influences."  ^ 

The  methods  of  instruction  practiced  in  the  German 
schools  are  the  natural  outgrowth  of  this  conception.  The 
teacher  instructs,  the  pupils  learn;  the  teacher  leads,  the 
pupils  follow;  the  teacher  is  the  fountain  of  knowledge, 
the  pupils  draw  from  him;  the  teacher  is  the  wise  master, 
the  pupils  possess  the  possibilities  of  learning.  There  is 
a  great  difference  between  the  two  which  the  process  of 
education  seeks  to  cancel.  Education  is  to  be  attained 
by  means  of  instruction  (Erziehende-Unterricht)  through 
the  influence  of  the  teacher  upon  the  pupil. 

^  "Philosophy  of  Education,'*  p.  i. 
'  "Padagogik,"  p.  39. 


12  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

Education  as  an  Aim.  —  The  purpose  here  is  to  study 
education  as  an  aim  rather  than  as  a  process,  although  the 
student  should  consider  the  subject  from  both  standpoints. 
What  is  the  aim  of  education  for  any  people  or  of  any  age  ? 
We  answer,  Education  is  the  harmonious  development  of  all 
the  powers  of  man,  and  has  for  its  purpose  the  formation  of 
good  character.  Teachers  for  all  time  have  sought  to  train 
their  pupils  to  be  good  men,  but  only  recently  has  the  prin- 
ciple been  stated  as  a  formal  doctrine.  With  a  clear  and 
definite  principle  fixed  in  the  mind,  a  purpose  is  more 
likely  to  be  carried  out  than  if  there  be  merely  a  vague  idea 
of  an  end  to  be  reached  without  a  formulated  statement 
concerning  that  end.  One  should  not  only  possess  a  notion 
of  the  end  to  be  sought,  but  also  be  able  to  express  that 
notion  in  a  clear  manner.  Hence  the  statement  of  the 
end  of  education  as  character  building  marks  an  advance 
in  pedagogical  practice  and  theory. 

While  the  preceding  definition  is  definite  in  statement 
and  clear  in  meaning,  a  discussion  of  it  may  serve  to 
throw  light  upon  the  problem  of  education  itself. 

Harmonious  Development.  —  Some  one  has  said,  "  Edu- 
cation considers  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  nature 
of  the  child.  Any  system  of  education  which  cultivates 
only  one  of  these,  not  recognizing  the  others,  is  a  failure. 
Train  only  the  physical  faculties  of  your  child,  and  you 
make  an  animal  of  him;  cultivate  his  moral  nature  exclu- 
sively, and  you  develop  a  fanatic;  direct  all  your  attention 
to  his  intellectual  faculties,  and  you  may  produce  a  prodigy, 
but  you  will  ruin  him  for  usefulness  in  life.  True  educa- 
tion consists  in  so  stimulating  the  development  of  the  phy- 


THE  AIM   OF  EDUCATION  13 

sical,  moral,  and  intellectual  nature  of  the  child  as  that  he 
may  be  fitted  to  occupy  the  best  position  in  life  that  his 
natural  powers  permit,  that  he  may  be  useful  to  his  fellow- 
men  and  of  value  to  the  community,  that  he  may  be  as 
important  a  factor  as  possible  in  making  the  world  better." 
No  one  would  say  that  the  pugilist  or  the  athlete  meets 
the  ideal  of  education  because  of  his  muscle  or  his  physical 
skill.  It  must  not  be  denied,  however,  that  physical  devel- 
opment has  its  place  in  school  work,  probably  a  far  greater 
place  than  it  now  occupies,  that  is,  physical  training  of  the 
right  sort.  When  it  fulfills  its  true  function  in  education 
greatest  stress  will  not  be  laid  upon,  and  enthusiasm  awak- 
ened concerning  foot- ball,  base- ball,  track  athletics,  or  some 
special  interest  that  attracts  only  a  small  proportion  of 
the  student  body.  There  is  no  objection  to  these  in  them- 
selves, and  they  should  be  encouraged  and  maintained. 
But  they  meet  only  a  fraction  of  the  whole  number  and, 
therefore,  do  not  satisfy  the  demand  for  general  physical 
culture  as  an  educational  means.  Indeed,  the  few  highly 
trained  athletes  become  the  center  of  attraction  of  the  whole 
school,  not  for  educational  purposes,  but  as  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  institution,  who  are  to  win  glory  for  her  in 
a  field  far  from  educational.  A  half  a  score  of  men,  trained 
to  the  highest  hmit,  reach  perfection  as  athletes  and  repre- 
sent their  school,  while  the  hundreds  look  on  and  get  no 
suitable  training.  At  least,  the  athletic  sports  as  now 
practiced  do  not  foster  general  physical  culture  in  the 
whole  student  body.  The  ideal  will  be  reached  when 
physical  culture  is  not  only  a  general  requirement,  but  a 
universal  joy  to  all  youth  of  both  sexes  who  are  being 
educated.     This  kind  of  development  is  educational,  and 


14  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

it  is  an  end  to  be  most  zealously  sought  for  in  all  our 
schools. 

As  to  the  need  of  intellectual  development,  there  is  una- 
nimity of  opinion.  Indeed,  the  principal  criticism  that 
might  be  offered  concerning  educational  practice  is  that 
it  has  ignored  the  other  sides  of  man's  nature  and  given 
its  entire  attention  to  the  intellectual.  Train  the  mind, 
awaken  the  mental  activities,  stimulate  and  direct  the  in- 
tellectual powers,  has  been  the  key-note  of  educational 
philosophy,  and  the  chief  theme  of  educational  practice, 
for  ages.  There  is  no  disposition  to  minimize  the  impor- 
tance or  value  of  intellectual  training.  It  will  continue  to 
require  the  greater  part  of  the  time  of  the  school  and  the 
thought  of  educators.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  atten- 
tion it  demands,  it  will  always  be  the  most  important 
feature  of  education.  The  principal  discussions  which 
follow  in  this  book  have  a  bearing  upon  intellectual  devel- 
opment. But  it  must  not  monopolize  the  whole  thought 
of  educators  nor  be  the  sole  theme  considered.  Nor 
must  man  be  considered  as  a  being  that  can  be  divided  into 
physical,  intellectual,  moral,  etc.  It  is  the  whole  man  that 
is  to  be  educated. 

Moral  training  must  receive  due  attention.  Indeed, 
to  omit  the  ethical  side  of  education  is  to  add  to  the  power 
to  do  evil,  for  the  better  and  acuter  the  intellectual  train- 
ing the  more  dangerous  the  individual  becomes,  provided 
there  is  no  moral  foundation.  To  omit  moral  training  is 
to  make  education  dangerous.  It  is  not  the  purpose  at 
this  time  to  discuss  the  character  of  moral  training  needed, 
but  merely  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is  needed  to 
produce  well-rounded  and  complete  education  such  as  our 


THE   AIM  OF  EDUCATION  1 5 

definition  demands.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  we 
are  considering  the  sufficiency  of  the  definition  for  our 
purpose  rather  than  a  treatment  of  its  various  phases, 
which  is  the  task  of  the  whole  book. 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  teaching  of  religion  is  impos- 
sible in  the  American  public  school,  and  therefore  it  is 
needless  to  add  this  to  the  definition.  In  reply  we  would 
say  in  the  first  place,  that  it  is  not  admitted  that  religion 
cannot  be  taught  in  the  public  school;  but  rather,  indeed, 
it  will  be  maintained  that  religion  in  its  best  and  truest 
sense  is  taught  in  these  schools,  and  must  be  taught  so 
long  as  the  great  majority  of  the  teachers  believe  in  God 
and  practice  righteousness,  and  so  long  as  history,  literature, 
and  science  abound  in  illustrations  and  lessons  founded  upon 
a  belief  in  Divine  Providence.  (See  Chap.  XVIII.)  In  the 
second  place,  it  should  be  remarked  that  the  school  is  not 
the  sole  factor  responsible  for  the  education  of  the  child,  and 
that  education  is  the  sum  of  all  influences  wherever  obtained 
— the  home,  the  school,  the  church,  society,  and  the  State. 
Therefore,  a  definition  of  the  aim  of  education  must  take 
into  account  all  the  influences  involved,  and  surely  religion 
is  a  most  important  factor  in  every  man's  education. 

All  of  these  powers  —  the  physical,  intellectual,  moral, 
and  spiritual  —  are  to  be  harmoniously  developed  for  a  pur- 
pose, and  that  purpose  is  good  character.  This  is  the  end 
that  the  teacher  should  have  in  view  from  the  first.  The 
teaching  of  arithmetic,  geography,  history,  language,  science, 
has  a  much  broader  meaning  than  the  mere  mastery  of 
these  subjects  for  practical  purposes  as  a  means  of  bread- 
winning,  however  necessary  this  may  be.  Their  practical 
value  is  not  despised,  and  this  end  must  certainly  be  in 


l6  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

view;  but  there  must  be  a  higher  aim  ever  present,  namely, 
that  of  employing  this  teaching  and  these  subjects  as  a 
means  of  forming  character  as  an  ultimate  and  highest 
aim. 

What  is  Character  ? —  But  what  is  character  ?  may  be 
asked.  Character  has  been  defined  as  a  **  completely 
formed  will."  What  a  person  wills  constantly  and  persist- 
ently gives  him  character.  A  good  character  is  where 
the  volitions  are  in  the  right  direction.  Rev.  J.  Richards 
Boyle  says  concerning  character:^  *^ Never  before  was  man- 
hood so  necessary  to  the  world  as  it  is  to-day.  For  never 
before  had  it  such  immense  responsibility  and  such  tre- 
mendous power.  The  supreme  question  of  the  century 
is  the  question  of  personal  character.  The  nation  that 
can  grow  a  worthy  manhood  and  womanhood  can  live. 
It  is  immortal.  The  nation  whose  personal  life  deterio- 
rates is  already  smitten  with  death.  Character  is  the  only 
conserving  and  conquering  power. 

"Now,  what  power  can  guarantee  the  life  and  progress 
of  the  twentieth  century  civilization?  What  can  control 
and  overthrow  its  reactionary  and  disintegrating  forces, 
and  perpetuate  and  perfect  its  beneficent  growth?  What 
is  to  decide  the  conflict  on  the  final  battlefield  of  earthly 
life?  Are  mere  numbers  or  material  wealth  to  do  this? 
Can  government,  can  armies,  can  navies,  as  such,  do  it? 
Civilizations  have  expired  notwithstanding  all  these  agen- 
cies. In  the  last  analysis  there  is  only  one  human  power 
that  can  assure  the  endurance  of  present  conditions  and 
carry  them  safely  forward  to  their  consummations.     And 

*  Address  before  the  students  of  Grant  University. 


THE  AIM  OF  EDUCATION  l^ 

that  power  is  true  manhood  and  womanhood.  The  indi- 
vidual life  is  evermore  the  determining  factor  in  associated 
life.  As  the  man  is,  so  must  the  nation  and  the  world 
ever  be.  And  the  problem  of  the  race  is  not  the  produc- 
tion of  wealth,  nor  the  marshaling  of  armies,  nor  the  enact- 
ment of  laws,  but  the  development  of  human  character.  I 
have  said  that  one  of  the  most  significant  facts  of  modern 
life  is  the  rise  of  the  personal  man.  I  now  declare  that 
the  most  essential  and  important  necessity  of  the  world's 
stability  and  prosperity  is  his  growth  and  equipment.'' 

The  men  who  have  been  conspicuously  a  blessing  to  this 
country  —  Washington,  Lincoln,  Grant,  McKinley  —  have 
been  men  not  distinguished  by  wealth,  by  the  endowments 
of  nature,  or  by  the  favor  of  men,  but  by  their  strong  per- 
sonality. George  H.  Martin  says,  "The  early  life  of 
Washington  is  singularly  transparent  as  to  the  creation 
and  influence  of  the  ideal.  We  see  how  one  quality  after 
another  was  added  until  the  character  became  complete. 
Manly  strength,  athletic  power  and  skill,  appear  first;  then, 
courtesy  and  refined  manners,  temperance,  consideration 
for  others;  then,  careful  and  exact  business  habits;  then, 
miHtary  quaHties;  then,  devotion  to  pubUc  service.  Stead- 
ily but  rapidly,  the  transforming  work  went  on,  imtil  the 
Man  was  complete;  the  ideal  was  realized.  Henceforth, 
the  character,  the  man,  appears  under  all  the  forms  of 
occupation  and  office.  Legislator,  commander,  president, 
the  man  is  in  them  all,  though  he  is  none  of  them.  Cincin- 
natus  at  the  plow  is  Cincinnatus  still.  Washington  at 
sixty,  moving  in  the  clamor  and  confusion  of  the  Genet 
episode,  is  the  same  careful,  prudent,  patient,  dignified, 
self-respecting,    self-controlled,    patriotic,    masterful    man 


l8  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

that  he  had  begun  to  be  at  twenty-one,  when  he  went  on 
his  mission  to  the  French  forts  on  the  Ohio/' 

One  other  quotation  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  J.  G.  K. 
McClure  concerning  character  must  suffice.  He  says, 
"The  best  thing  in  the  world  is  a  good  man.  The 
greatest  thing  in  this  world  is  a  great  good  man.  The 
most  blessed  thing  in  this  world  is  a  blessed  good  man. 
The  first  thing  that  a  human  being  should  recognize  about 
himself  is  that  his  character  is  his  distinguishing  feature. 
It  is  not  the  amount  of  money,  the  amount  of  power,  the 
amount  of  brains  that  a  man  has  that  is  his  distinguishing 
feature,  but  his  character.  Whatever  his  fellow-men  may 
temporarily  say  or  do  to  the  contrary,  this  is  a  fact,  that 
what  separates  him  from  others  and  gives  him  his  individ- 
uality is  his  goodness  or  lack  of  goodness,  according  to 
its  degree.  Money,  power,  brains,  have  their  place,  and 
they  do  exert  an  influence  in  temporarily  deciding  a  man's 
position  and  recognition.  But  the  standard  of  the  ages, 
by  which  any  one  and  every  one  is  tried,  is  character;  and 
in  God's  sight,  which  is  the  final  and  determining  sight, 
men  are  what  they  are  in  their  wishes  and  purposes.  It 
is  not,  then,  too  much  to  say  that  the  supreme  ambition  of 
a  person's  life  should  be  to  secure  a  worthy  character.*' 

Character  is  not  considered  as  embracing  the  ethical 
side  only;  but  it  involves  the  physical,  intellectual,  moral, 
and  spiritual  attributes;  it  means  such  development  of 
hand,  head,  and  heart  as  will  prepare  a  man  to  serve  his 
fellow-men,  to  bring  out  the  best  that  is  in  him,  and  to 
fulfill  the  will  of  the  Creator.  To  attain  this  surely  is  the 
aim  of  education. 


THE  AIM  OF  EDUCATION  19 

Other  Views.  —  Thus  far  the  discussion  has  held  closely 
to  the  aim  of  education,  stress  being  laid  upon  the  ethical 
view.  Another  view  considers  education  more  from  the 
cultural  standpoint  and  seeks  to  secure  complete  develop- 
ment, moral,  and  religious  as  well,  through  the  mastery 
of  the  branches  necessary  to  an  all-round  education.  It 
may  be  profitable  briefly  to  consider  what  these  branches 
are  and  to  note  their  utility  in  connection  with  the  question 
under  discussion.  Dr.  James  M.  Green  defines  education 
as  follows:  *^ Education  is  the  development  of  the  powers 
of  the  mind  by  exercising  them  in  the  various  common 
channels  of  thought  necessary  to  make  one  masterful  in 
his  environment."  As  to  the  "common  channels  of 
thought,"  quite  a  imanimity  of  opinion  among  educational 
thinkers  is  found.  Dr.  Green  says,  "The  mental  ener- 
gies of  the  race  have  grouped  themselves  under  these  com- 
mon channels,  namely,  mathematics,  science,  history,  lan- 
guage, aesthetics,  ethics,  and  economics."  No  harmonious 
development  can  be  secured  that  omits  any  one  of  these 
branches. 

Dr.  De  Garmo  remarks,^  "It  may  be  assumed,  first  of 
all,  that  a  normal,  well-educated  man  should  at  least  be 
intelligent  concerning  the  conquests  of  his  race  in  all  the 
distinct  fields  of  its  endeavor.  He  need  not,  indeed,  be 
master  of  Greek,  Spanish,  calculus,  ontology,  physical 
chemistry,  geology,  civil  engineering,  law,  medicine,  theol- 
ogy; but  he  should  at  least  know  that  these  studies  exist, 
comprehend  something  of  their  respective  functions,  and 
be  familiar  with  some  of  their  elements.  In  other  words, 
the  normally  constituted  mind  should  dwell,  for  a  time  at 

*  "Interest  and  Education,"  p.  61. 


20  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

least,  upon  each  distinctive  department  of  important 
human  knowledge."  He  then  classifies  these  departments 
into  tliree  groups,  namely,  (i)  the  human  sciences,  embrac- 
ing languages,  ancient  and  modern,  literature,  art,  and 
history;  (2)  the  natural  sciences,  such  as  physics,  chemistry, 
and  astronomy  with  their  basis  of  pure  mathematics,  the 
biological  sciences,  and  the  earth  sciences  —  physical  geog- 
raphy and  geology;  and  (3)  the  economic  sciences,  which 
include  economics  proper,  technology,  and  commercial 
knowledge. 

President  Eliot  marks  out  the  four  great  divisions  of 
knowledge  as,  languages,  history,  mathematics,  and  natural 
science,  and  urges  that  these  '^should  all  be  adequately 
represented''  in  the  course  of  study  at  all  times. 

Dr.  Harris  names  five  coordinate  groups  as  follows :  lan- 
guage, arithmetic,  geography,  history,  and  other  branches, 
and  he  insists  that,  ^'From  the  primary  school  on  through 
the  academic  course  of  the  college,  there  should  be  five 
coordinate  groups  of  studies  represented  at  each  part  of 
the  course." 

President  Butler  ^  thinks  that  there  should  be  a  center 
or  core  around  which  the  students'  work  should  be  formed, 
and  this  core  should  have  three  constituent  elements, 
namely,"  (i)  the  study  of  language;  (2)  the  study  of  de- 
ductive reasoning,  in  mathematics  and  formal  logic;  (3) 
the  study  of  inductive  method,  in  experimental  science, 
and,  in  part,  in  history.  If  it  is  provided  that  the  course 
pursued  by  every  student  must  contain  a  subject  selected 
from  each  of  these  three  classes,  we  may  safely  trust  to  the 
student's  tastes,  needs,  and  ambitions,  together  with  the 
*  Edmationdl  Review,  Vol.  XVI,  p.  23. 


THE  AIM  OF  EDUCATION  21 

advice  of  his  parents  and  teachers,  both  to  select  the  speci- 
fied subjects,  and  to  add  to  them  others  that  he  outside 
those  classes.  He  cannot  very  well  fail  to  make  a  satis- 
factory course.  This  arrangement  suits  equally  well  the 
student  who  has  a  college  course  in  view,  or  his  fellow  who 
looks  forward  to  a  scientific  school,  an  agricultural  college, 
a  technical  institute,  a  business  career,  or  indeed  any  other 
form  of  occupation." 

Thus,  through  exercising  the  faculties  in  these  "common 
channels  of  thought,"  which  are  generally  accepted  as 
necessary,  and  in  all  of  these  channels,  the  individual  is 
led  to  understand  his  environment,  to  utilize  it,  and  to 
command  its  forces  for  his  own  personal  welfare  and  hap- 
piness, and  for  the  good  of  his  fellow-men.  Just  in  so 
far  as  this  end  is  attained,  the  aim  of  education  is  realized. 
These  two  phases  of  the  general  subject  are  set  forth  in  the 
summary. 

Summary 

/.  The  aim  of  education  is  the  harmonious  development 
of  all  the  powers  of  man  to  the  end  that  good  character  may 
be  formed, 

IL  Education  is  the  development  of  the  powers  of  the 
mind  by  exercising  them  in  the  various  common  channels 
of  thought  necessary  to  make  one  masterful  in  his  environ- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   SCIENCE    OF   EDUCATION 

References.  —  Morgan,  Studies  in  Pedagogy;  Payne ,  Lectures 
on  Teaching;  Page,  Theory  and  Practice;  Roark,  Method  in  Edu- 
cation; Coler,  Character  Building;  Ogden,  Science  of  Education, 
Landon,  School  Management;  McMurry,  Method  of  the  Reci- 
tation; O^Shea,  Education  as  Adjustment;  Educational  Review, 
Vol.  I;  Tate,  Philosophy  of  Education. 

The  question  as  to  whether  or  not  there  is  a  science  of 
education  has  been  under  discussion  for  many  years. 
Many  assert  that  there  exist  only  scraps  of  scientific  edu- 
cational knowledge,  that  there  are  no  mutual  purposes  and 
no  common  grounds  that  hold  teachers  together  as  in 
law  or  medicine,  so  essential  in  a  profession,  and  that, 
therefore,  it  is  folly  to  talk  of  the  profession  of  teaching,  or 
of  a  science  of  education.  Others,  on  the  other  hand,  with 
equal  insistence,  affirm  that  education  is  entitled  to  a  place 
among  the  sciences.  They  point  to  the  fact  that  other 
countries,  especially  Germany,  have  long  recognized  peda- 
gogy as  being  on  a  scientific  basis,  according  to  it  the  dig- 
nity of  a  place  among  university  subjects,  and  sustaining 
chairs  to  promulgate  its  teaching. 

Opinions  as  to  the  Science  of  Education.  —  Superintend- 
ent Soldan  says,  '*No  matter  how  limited  the  strictly  scien- 
tific domain  of  education  is  considered  to  be,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  there  is  such  a  science,  and  it  should  be  mas- 
tered before  the  practical  duties  of  teaching  are  assumed." 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  23 

Supt.  James  M.  Greenwood  says,  "The  hypothesis  that 
one  line  of  work;  human  development,  is  not  susceptible 
to  any  law,  that  education  is  not  a  science,  is  a  matter  of 
chance  caprice,  is  to  affirm  that  there  is  one  great  realm  of 
human  activity  not  subject  to  law.  This  leads  to  a  strange 
inconsistency.  Is  there  not  a  large  body  of  educational 
literature  written  upon  the  nature,  the  activity,  and  the 
development  of  the  human  body  and  soul  —  a  set  of  prin- 
ciples founded  upon  human  nature  in  all  its  phases,  deter- 
mining the  nature,  the  function,  and  the  limits  of  educa- 
tion, and  are  not  these  principles  as  elementary  as  are 
those  of  any  one  of  the  physical  or  mathematical  sciences, 
and  do  not  these  embrace  the  very  deepest  problems  of 
philosophy  and  of  life,  and  have  a  self- justification  in  the 
subject-matter  they  cover  ? 

"For  forty  years,  the  chief  effort  of  the  leading  educators 
of  the  United  States  has  been  to  place  teaching  on  the 
same  professional  basis  that  law  and  medicine  now  hold 
in  the  public  mind.  It  is  a  profession  having  its  history, 
its  body  of  doctrines,  and  its  methods  as  sharply  defined 
as  other  professions.  A  handful  of  opponents,  however, 
claim  that  molding  and  developing  a  human  being  can 
lay  no  claim  to  scientific  or  rational  treatment.  They 
hold,  without  good  reason,  that  all  teaching  is  experi- 
mental, and  in  its  very  nature  cannot  be  reduced  to  a 
scientific  basis.  The  two  most  scientific  nations  of  Chris- 
tendom, Germany  and  France,  treat  it  as  a  science  and 
one  that  can  be  learned  and  practiced.  Compayr^,  the 
leading  pedagogical  lecturer  of  France,  says,  *  To  under- 
take the  direction  of  education  without  having  analyzed 
the  faculties  of  human  nature,  would  be  to  run  the  risk 


24  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

of  committing  the  grossest  errors;  it  would  be  to  go  astray, 
to  walk  at  random  like  a  traveler  in  an  unknown  country 
without  a  map  before  him.  On  the  other  hand,  equipped 
with  proper  psychological  observations,  the  educator  is 
prepared  to  determine  the  theoretical  and  general  laws 
which  govern  the  development  of  mind  and  character. 
Now,  without  the  key  which  psychology  puts  into  our 
hands,  the  child  would  remain  to  us  an  insoluble  enigma.'  "^ 

Professor  O'Shea  thinks  that  inasmuch  as  certain  prin- 
ciples of  education  have  long  been  believed  and  have  stood 
the  test  of  time,  there  is  evidence  of  science.  He  observes,^ 
"Is  it  safe  to  say  that  articles  of  belief  in  education  which 
have  been  held  by  generation  after  generation,  and  tested 
by  them,  and  are  as  fresh  to-day  as  ever  —  is  it  safe  to 
say  that  such  principles  are  scientific?  that  they  express 
in  a  truthful  way  certain  relations  of  the  race  to  the  world?  " 

''And  have  not  such  principles  really  been  established  in 
conformity  to  the  requirements  of  effective  method  ?  Every 
induction  in  any  field  and  at  any  time  leads  at  first  to  a 
hypothesis,  which  does  not  become  a  law  until  it  is  tried 
under  varying  circumstances  and  not  found  wanting. 
Newton  thus  formulated  the  principle  of  gravitation  first 
as  an  hypothesis;  men  have  been  working  with  it  ever  since, 
and  to-day  they  beheve  it  is  a  law,  for  it  has  never  failed 
to  work  in  any  situation  in  which  it  has  been  tried.  So 
men  have  been  working  with  certain  principles  of  educa-, 
tion  for  a  much  longer  period  than  they  have  worked  with 
the  law  of  gravitation,  and  they  have  stood  the  test.'' 

Professor   Roark   remarks,^  ''The  science   of  education 

^  Annual  address  to  the  teachers  of  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  1904. 
^  "Education  as  Adjustment,"  p.  27. 
•  "Method  in  Education,"  p.  10. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  25 

is  justifying  itself  so  admirably  in  these  latter  days  when 
educational  matters  are  on  everybody's  tongue  and  on  the 
pages  of  every  popular  periodical,  that  those  who  deny 
teaching  a  place  among  the  liberal  professions  have  a 
heavy  burden  of  proof  to  carry.  The  question  of  method 
has  forced  an  asking  in  all  the  higher  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, and  there  is  hardly  a  college  or  university  in  this  coun- 
try to-day  that  does  not  have  its  department  of  pedagogy." 
Later  in  this  chapter  we  shall  give  a  number  of  such 
principles  that  have  been  long  taught  and  that  find  uni- 
versal acceptance. 

Science  Defined.  —  Perhaps  the  discussion  will  be  some- 
what clearer  if  a  definition  of  the  term  of  science  be  agreed 
upon.  Webster  defines  science  as  *' Accumulated  and 
established  knowledge,  which  has  been  systematized  and 
formulated  with  reference  to  the  discovery  of  general 
truths  or  the  operation  of  general  laws;  knowledge  clas- 
sified and  made  available  in  work,  life,  or  the  search  for 
truth;  comprehensive,  profound,  or  philosophical  knowl- 
edge." Sir  William  Hamilton  says,  Science  is  ^*a  com- 
plement of  cognitions,  having,  in  point  of  form,  the  char- 
acter of  logical  perfection,  and,  in  point  of  matter,  the 
character  of  real  truth."  In  point  of  form,  it  will  not  be 
claimed  that  education  has  reached  logical  perfection,  and, 
from  the  very  nature  of  things,  it  will  never  be  possible 
for  it  to  reach  such  perfection  as  is  the  case  with  the  science 
of  mathematics,  physics,  or  botany.  Like  psychology,  it 
deals  with  mental  activities,  and  therefore  complete  exact- 
ness can  never  be  expected.  But  in  point  of  matter,  edu- 
cation has  certainly  reached  much  that  bears  the  character 
of   real   truth. 


26  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

With  the  limitations  given  in  the  definition  of  science,  i.e., 
"Accumulated  and  established  knowledge,  which  has  been 
systematized  and  formulated  with  reference  to  the  dis- 
covery of  general  truths  or  the  operation  of  general  laws," 
the  question  arises,  Have  a  sufficient  number  of  principles 
been  established  such  as  to  warrant  the  claims  of  a  science  ? 
That  many  principles  are  universally  accepted  all  will 
agree.  Whether  or  not  sufficient  progress  has  been  made 
to  meet  the  claims  of  a  science,  or  whether  these  are  mere 
isolated  truths,  upon  which  all  agree,  is  the  rock  upon  which 
educators  split.  A  comparison  of  opinions  upon  this  point 
may  throw  some  light  upon  the  question.  Tate  says,^ 
"Practical  teachers,  as  well  as  the  public  generally,  had, 
until  recently,  regarded  education  more  as  an  art  than 
as  a  science,  consisting  merely  of  a  few  arbitrary  and  empir- 
ical rules  which  may  be  modified  or  altered  to  suit  the 
tastes  and  attainments  of  the  teacher,  or  to  answer  the 
opinions  and  circumstances  of  the  managers  of  schools. 
This  unfortunate  prejudice  has,  no  doubt,  had  its  origin, 
to  a  great  extent,  in  the  fact  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
teachers  were  xmfit  for  their  office.  .  .  .  The  science  of 
education  must  be  based  upon  the  nature  of  the  being  to 
be  educated;  that  is  to  say,  upon  the  laws  which  govern 
the  development  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  faculties. 
These  laws  may  be  determined  as  well  by  observation  as 
by  psychological  analysis.  Every  faculty  of  our  nature  has 
its  proper  period  and  peculiar  mode  of  development." 
Further  he  adds,  "The  art  of  education,  without  a  due 
regard  to  its  science,  degenerates  into  empiricism;  and  the 
science,    without   the   practice   of  the   art,    becomes   little 

*  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  pp.  14,  19. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  2J 

better  than  a  code  of  barren  abstractions  without  the  vital 
principle  of  development.  The  philosophy  of  education 
should  go  in  hand  with  the  practice  of  it:  every  step  of 
advance  taken  by  the  one  should  be  followed  by  corre- 
sponding progress  of  the  other;  philosophy  should  suggest 
plans  and  theories,  art  should  test  and  try  them;  philosophy 
should  build  up  a  structure  of  general  principles  and  rules, 
art  should  supply  the  facts  —  the  materials  —  by  which, 
and  upon  which,  this  structure  should  be  reared." 

To  quote  a  brief  paragraph  from  a  thorough  discussion 
of  this  point  by  a  recognized  authority,*  '^The  science  of 
pedagogics  ...  is  still  incomplete  in  its  matter,  all  its  first 
principles  not  having  been  formulated;  and  it  is  imperfect 
in  form,  its  admitted  principles  not  having  been  arranged, 
and  deductions  from  them  not  having  been  made  with 
the  required  completeness  and  order.  Whoever  takes  an 
established  psychological  law  and  draws  from  it  legitimate 
deductions  that  can  be  employed  for  guidance  in  educa- 
tional work,  has  made  a  contribution  to  the  science  of 
pedagogics  ;  and  works  like  Bain's  ^  Education  as  a  Science,' 
and  Rosenkranz's  ^Pedagogics  as  a  System,'  that  discuss 
in  a  comprehensive  way  the  doctrines  of  education,  are 
actual  treatises  on  the  science  of  pedagogics.  ...  A 
science  of  pedagogics  exists  as  an  actual  fact,  but  it  is  still 
incomplete  in  matter  and  imperfect  in  form.  The  need  of 
the  hour  is  a  systematic  rearrangement  of  the  old  material, 
and  the  addition  of  omitted  principles  and  their  deductions."^ 

1  Payne's  "  Contributions  to  the  Science  of  Education,"  p.  3. 

'  Many  other  authors  discuss  this  question.  I  call  especial  attention 
to  McMurry's  "Method  of  the  Recitation,"  p.  i,  for  a  full  treatment  of 
this  topic. 


28  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

We  believe  that  there  is  a  science  of  education  for  reasons 
which  follow. 

I.  Because  of  educational  principles  established.  It  may 
be  profitable  to  call  attention  to  some  of  the  educational 
principles  that  are  universally  accepted,  as  well  as  to  those 
that  are  still  debatable.  No  one  can  furnish  a  complete  Hst 
of  established  pedagogical  truths  any  more  than  any  one 
can  tabulate  the  mental  activities  as  presented  in  psychol- 
ogy. As  in  psychology,  so  in  pedagogy,  there  is  abun- 
dant debatable  ground.  In  both,  some  of  the  disputed 
points  will  ultimately  be  established  and  thus  add  new 
principles  to  perfect  their  respective  science,  while  others 
will  be  rejected  as  lacking  the  element  of  a  scientific  basis. 
One  can  easily  recall  numerous  discussions  within  the  last 
generation  in  which  pedagogical  themes  have  been  treated, 
some  to  secure  a  permanent  place  in  educational  doctrine, 
while  others  have  entirely  dropped  out  of  consideration. 
We  may  mention  such  questions  as  the  duty  of  the  state 
to  provide  education  for  all  children,  and  the  right  to  tax 
the  people  therefor  ;  her  right  to  extend  free  education 
beyond  the  elementary  school  ;  compulsory  school  atten- 
dance ;  the  introduction  of  the  kindergarten,  manual 
training,  drawing,  music,  etc.  These  questions  are 
settled  for  all  time  in  the  educational  policy  of  this 
country.  More  strictly  scientific  and  pedagogical  ques- 
tions, such  as,  the  training  of  the  senses  by  means  of  object 
teaching,  the  doctrine  of  interest,  of  apperception,  or  corre- 
lation, have  each  received  its  share  of  attention,  and  to  each 
has  been  accorded  its  permanent  place  in  educational 
theory. 

It  seems  as  if  the  past  quarter  of  a  century  has  been 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  29 

the  most  productive  in  the  discussion  and  settlement  of 
educational  questions,  as  well  as  in  suggesting  new  prob- 
lems to  be  solved,  of  any  period  in  the  world's  history. 
And  yet  the  history  of  education  shows  that  individuals 
and  peoples  have  met  and  settled  many  educational  ques- 
tions. The  following  may  be  mentioned  in  illustration, 
quoting  from  Karl  Schmidt:  '*In  Greece  at  last  the  idea 
of  human  individuality  as  the  principal  end,  and  not  as  a 
means  to  an  end,  was  grasped.  Conformable  to  this 
truth,  all  human,  social,  and  political  conditions  were 
shaped  and  education  given  its  form.  This  idea  of  the 
emancipation  of  the  individual  became  established  in 
Greece  with  a  brilliancy  which  attracts  attention  to  that 
land  until  the  present  time." 

Plato  taught  that  the  aim  of  education  is  to  bring  all 
the  powers  of  man  into  harmonious  cooperation,  a  principle 
upon  which  the  Herbartians  have  laid  great  stress  during 
the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Aristotle  believed  that  pedagogy  should  be  based  upon 
a  knowledge  of  the  individual,  and  in  his  method  he  pro- 
ceeded *^from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract,"  teachings  that 
have  universal  acceptance  in  modern  education. 

Cicero  held  that  the  amusements  and  the  environments 
of  the  child  should  be  such  as  elevate  and  refine,  as  well 
as  properly  to  develop  his  powers.  These  are  the  same 
truths  that  Pestalozzi  worked  out  in  his  object  teaching, 
and  Froebel  in  the  kindergarten. 

Seneca  commanded  respect  for  the  office  and  person 
of  the  teacher  in  these  words:  ''Such  a  man,  who  con- 
secrates his  whole  being  to  our  good,  and  who  awakens 
our  dormant  faculties,  is  deserving  all  the  esteem  that  we 


30  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

give  a  benevolent  physician  or  our  most  loved  and  dearest 
kindred." 

Quintilian,  among  many  other  pedagogical  precepts, 
held  that  children  should  begin  early  with  a  foreign  tongue, 
as  their  own  language  will  come  to  them  naturally  in  their 
intercourse  with  those  about  them. 

The  Great  Teacher  by  precept  and  practice  taught  that 
all  education  is  for  the  individual.  Of  Him,  Karl  Schmidt 
says,  ''Christ,  the  perfect  teacher,  gave  by  his  example  and 
by  his  own  teaching  the  eternal  principles  of  pedagogy." 

Charlemagne  taught  the  principle  of  universal  educa- 
tion, that  every  child  has  a  right  to  an  education,  a  prin- 
ciple that  is  accepted  by  most  civilized  countries  of  the 
world.  He  also  taught  compulsory  school  attendance.  He 
believed,  too,  that  girls  as  well  as  boys  should  be  educated. 

Erasmus  held  that  during  the  first  six  years  little  should 
be  done  with  the  education  of  the  child  save  to  develop  a 
strong  body;  also  that  religious  training  should  not  be 
neglected. 

The  Jesuits  made  their  schools  interesting,  and  learning 
pleasant.  They  urged  that  the  teacher  must  be  specially 
trained  for  the  duties  of  his  office. 

Rabelais  placed  the  study  of  the  sciences  in  the  front 
rank,  thereby  starting  a  movement  that  has  revolutionized 
courses  of  study  and  educational  methods,  and  anticipated 
Herbert  Spencer. 

Bacon  furthered  this  work  by  his  discovery  of  the  in- 
ductive method,  and  made  application  of  it  in  science 
through  experiment,  investigation,  and  verification. 

Ratke  followed  the  order  of  nature,  thereby  anticipating 
Rousseau  and  modem  nature  study.     Comenius  follows 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  31 

the  same  thought  when  he  says,  "If  we  would  teach  and 
learn,  surely  we  must  follow  the  order  of  Nature.'*  "Let 
everything  be  presented  through  the  senses."  "Proceed 
from  the  easy  to  the  difhcult,  from  the  general  to  the  special, 
from  the  known  to  the  unknown."  "Learn  to  do  by 
doing."     "Learn  language  by  use  rather  than  by  precept." 

F^nelon  also  anticipated  Froebel  by  teaching  that  all 
instruction  must  be  made  pleasant  and  interesting,  and 
that  the  instinct  of  play  should  be  utilized  in  teaching. 
"Present  the  thing  before  its  name,  the  idea  before  the 
word."  "Morality  should  be  taught  early  by  means  of 
fables,  stories,  and  concrete  examples." 

Francke  believed  that  teachers  should  be  trained,  and 
carried  out  this  thought  in  connection  with  his  orphan 
asylum. 

Pestalozzi  taught  the  harmonious  development  of  all 
the  human  powers.  "Instruction,  especially  for  young 
children,  should  be  based  upon  observation."  "  The 
mother  is  the  natural  educator  of  the  child  in  its  early 
years."  Dr.  Harris  says  of  Pestalozzi,  "He  is  the  first 
teacher  to  announce  convincingly  the  doctrine  that  all 
people  should  be  educated,  that,  in  fact,  education  is  the 
one  good  gift  to  give  to  all  whether  rich  or  poor." 

Rein  says,  "Froebel  gave  the  world  the  kindergarten, 
while  Herbart  elevated  education  to  the  dignity  of  a 
science."  ^ 

It  will  not  be  claimed  that  all  the  pedagogical  theories 
and  principles  above  enunciated  are  universally  accepted 
and  established.     But  many  of  them  are  so   established, 

^  For  the  statement  of  many  more  educational  maxims,  I  refer  the  reader 
to  the  summaries  following  each  chapter  in  my  "History  of  Education." 


32  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

and  many  more  might  be  added.  It  would  seem,  therefore, 
that  in  the  field  of  education  enough  that  is  fundamental 
is  fixed  to  warrant  the  claim  that  there  is  a  science  of 
education. 

2.  Because  of  scientific  works  on  education,  —  A  second 
argument  is  found  in  the  numerous  scientific  and  philo- 
sophical works  on  this  subject  with  which  educational  litera- 
ture aboimds.  The  output  in  this  field  during  recent 
years  has  been  remarkable,  and  this  output  increases  year 
by  year.  Discussions  of  educational  philosophy  have 
claimed  the  attention  of  the  profoundest  thinkers  and  the 
wisest  men  of  the  world,  not  only  among  teachers,  but  also 
from  every  class  of  men. 

These  discussions  have  found  their  way  into  educational 
books  and  periodicals,  and  also  into  popular  magazines 
and  papers,  showing  that  interest  has  been  awakened 
outside  the  field  of  the  professional  teacher.  Every  year 
more  than  three  hundred  books. and  articles  on  education 
that  are  worthy  of  serious  consideration,  appear  in  the 
English  language  alone,^  while  in  other  languages  a  Hke 
activity  is  manifest.  Surely,  such  a  wonderful  activity 
could  not  be  expected  if  there  were  no  science  of 
education. 

Mr.  Greenwood  says,  ''  With  a  pedagogical  literature  that 
represents  hundreds  of  volumes  in  English,  more  than  two 
thousand  in  French,  and  more  voluminous  still  in  German, 
there  is  hardly  a  valid  excuse  why  any  one  who  assumes  to 
teach  in  a  public  or  private  school  should  be  ignorant  of 
the  existence  of  this  great  treasure-house  of  educational 
knowledge.'* 

*  Sec  the  annual  June  number  of  the  Educational  Review. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  33 

3.  Because  of  organizations  for  the  study  of  education,  — 
Teachers'  organizations,  which  meet  periodically  to  con- 
sider educational  questions,  from  the  National  Educational 
Association  down  to  the  smallest  teachers'  club,  furnish 
an  evidence  that  there  is  a  science  of  education.  It  is  true 
that  other  societies,  like  labor  organizations,  meet  to  discuss 
their  rights  and  formulate  plans  for  united  action;  but 
there  is  this  vital  difference,  —  the  former,  like  medical, 
law,  and  theological  associations,  meet  to  discuss  the  great 
questions  which  affect  the  welfare  and  progress  of  the  race, 
while  the  latter  busy  themselves  with  their  own  interests 
and  ends.  In  teachers'  meetings  are  presented  the  experi- 
ences and  conclusions  of  men  devoted  to  the  elevation  of 
mankind  and  to  the  furtherance  of  altruistic  principles. 
Such  meetings  contribute  to  the  sum  of  pedagogical  knowl- 
edge and  confirm  the  truth  that  education  is  a  science. 

4.  Because  chairs  for  the  study  of  education  are  main- 
tained, —  A  most  convincing  and  practical  reason  for  the 
belief  that  there  is  a  science  of  education,  lies  in  the  fact 
that  pedagogical  chairs  have  been  established  in  colleges 
and  universities,  and  that  normal  schools,  training  classes, 
etc.,  are  maintained  at  great  expense.  Legislators  and 
philanthropists  are  not  likely  to  devote  large  sums  of  money 
to  maintain  a  science  that  has  no  existence. 

5.  Because  educators  have  long  recognized  it  as  a  sci- 
ence, —  German  thinkers  and  the  German  educational 
authorities  have  recognized  pedagogy  as  a  science  for  more 
than  half  a  century.  In  some  of  the  universities,  pedagogy 
is  accepted  as  a  branch  which  may  be  offered  for  a  degree, 
coordinate  with  philosophy,  psychology,  science,  or  math- 


34  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

ematics.  The  same  is  practically  true  in  France.  Provi- 
sion for  training  in  the  science  and  art  of  teaching  is  being 
increasingly  made  in  this  country,  while  great  numbers  of 
young  men  and  women  are  availing  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunities thus  afforded.  Teachers,  like  lawyers,  doctors, 
and  ministers,  are  banding  themselves  together  for  the 
purpose  of  protecting  their  interests,  studying  the  principles 
underlying  their  profession,  and  advancing  the  cause  to 
which  they  have  devoted  their  lives. 

There  seems  to  be  good  reason,  therefore,  to  accept  edu- 
cation as  a  science,  and  teaching  as  a  profession. 


Summary 

There  is  a  science  of  education  because  educational  prin- 
ciples have  been  formulated  and  classified,  an  educational 
literature  created,  associations  formed  to  further  and  protect 
the  interests  of  teachers  and  to  foster  a  scientific  spirit,  peda- 
gogical chairs  established  and  maintained,  and  because  it 
has  received  recognition  in  this  and  other  countries.  It  is 
not  a  complete  or  exact  science,  and  never  can  be,  for  it  deals 
with  the  activities  of  the  human  mind. 


CHAPTER    IV 

WHO    CAN   BE   EDUCATED? 

References.  —  Butler,  Meaning  of  Education;  McMurry, 
Method  of  the  Recitation;  Ward,  Psychic  Factors  of  Civilization; 
Rosenkranz,  Philosophy  of  Education;  De  Garmo,  Interest  and 
Education. 

If  we  accept  the  definition  of  education  given  by  Rosen- 
kranz, namely,  '*  Education  is  the  infiuencing  of  man  by 
man,  and  it  has  for  its  end  to  lead  him  to  actualize  himself 
through  his  own  efforts, '*  we  have  the  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, ^^  Who  can  be  educated?"  in  the  definition  itself. 
The  term  "  education,"  however,  is  often  applied  in  a  wider 
sense,  as  an  educated  horse,  an  educated  dog,  an  edu- 
cated lion.  It  may  be  well  to  study  the  meaning  of  the 
words  employed,  and  seek  to  arrive  at  an  understanding 
of  them.  We  speak  of  training  and  educating  as  though 
they  were  interchangeable  terms.  Such  use  of  these  words 
is  unwarrantable.  By  training  there  is  direction  by  some 
external  agent,  the  being  or  thing  trained  is  passive.  Thus 
we  speak  of  training  a  horse,  a  dog,  a  regiment,  a  vine. 
It  is  not  that  the  object  trained  is  necessarily  destitute  of 
intelligence;  but  it  is  led  by  the  intelligence  and  volition  of 
another  to  do  things  that  it  would  not  do  of  its  own  volition. 
The  trained  horse  or  the  trick  dog  learns  to  perform  feats 
that  have  been  thought  out  by  a  superior  intelligence  and 
taught  to  him.  He  would  never  have  learned  these  tricks 
of  his  own  volition.  Observe  the  most  highly  "educated" 
horse^  study  his  tricks,  and  it  will  at  once  appear  that  he 

35 


36  ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION 

performs  only  as  he  has  been  taught  to  perform,  only  as 
he  has  been  trained.  An  external  force,  a  man,  has  con- 
ceived the  interesting  feat  and  patiently  trained  him  to  per- 
form it.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  man,  the  horse  would  never 
have  performed  the  trick. 

Weal  so  employ  the  term  *' training"  in  connection  with 
self-active  beings,  with  man.  Thus,  the  athlete  who  is  to 
enter  a  contest,  the  pugilist  who  is  to  do  battle,  the  foot- 
ball player  —  all  these  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
trainer  whose  commands  they  must  obey.  They  are  in 
training,  and  while  they  are  intelligent  and  must  employ 
their  intelligence,  and  possess  the  power  of  self- direction, 
during  the  time  they  are  at  work  they  must  submit  to  the 
direction  of  an  outside  force,  the  trainer.  We  also  have 
the  training  school,  the  training  class,  the  training  of  sol- 
diers, the  training  of  children.  In  every  case  there  is  an 
outside  intelligence,  superior  in  knowledge  and  capable  of 
directing.  The  student  in  the  training  school  is  set  to  per- 
form certain  tasks,  such  as,  managing  children,  teach- 
ing a  class,  and  the  manifold  duties  of  the  teacher.  He 
does  this  work  under  the  eye  and  the  direction  of  the 
critic  teacher.  He  is  being  trained.  Wherever  the  idea 
of  training  is  correctly  employed,  there  is  an  external  force 
operating. 

But  education  is  from  within.  If  there  is  no  self- activity, 
there  is  no  learning.  We  criticise  the  grammatical  accu- 
racy of  the  expression,  "I  shall  learn  you  this  fact;"  there 
is  also  a  sense  in  which  the  expression,  "I  shall  teach  you 
this  fact,"  is  incorrect.  We  can  teach  no  one  who  will  not 
be  taught,  as,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  term  education, 
activity  from  within  is  implied  and  required.     Educere,  the 


,  WHO   CAN   BE  EDUCATED?  37 

Latin  word  from  which  we  derive  the  word  Education, 
means  the  act  of  leading  forth.  It  begins  within  and  pro- 
ceeds outward.  A  teacher  may  be  employed,  it  is  true,  to 
arouse,  direct,  and  lead,  but,  unless  the  activity  of  the  child 
is  stimulated,  the  work  of  the  teacher  is  in  vain,  there  is 
no  educating.  The  horse  can  be  trained  under  the  lash 
to  perform  certain  acts  quite  perfunctorily  as  a  matter  of 
habit,  with  little  exercise  of  intelligence.  So  also  man 
may  be  trained,  as  we  have  seen,  to  perform  acts  without 
it  being  necessary  to  give  any  thought  to  them.  But  the 
process  of  education  requires  conscious  exercise  of  the  in- 
teUigence.  If  this  is  not  brought  about,  all  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher  is  fruitless. 

Let  us  proceed  to  the  further  consideration  of  the  ques- 
tion. Who  can  be  educated  ?  Do  animals  possess  the  same 
mental  qualities  as  man,  differing  only  in  degree?  If  not, 
at  what  point  is  the  dividing  line?  Beginning  with  the 
lowest  form  of  intelligence  and  proceeding  to  the  highest 
form,  we  will  try  to  discover  if  any  difference  exists,  and, 
if  so,  where  it  may  be  found. 

I.  Instinct,  —  Comparing  man  with  lower  creatures  we 
find  that  both  possess  instinct.  The  homing  instinct,  that 
of  self-preservation,  of  care  for  offspring,  of  herding  with 
those  of  their  kind,  are  stronger  in  many  animals  than  in 
man.  Indeed,  instinct  often  serves  the  animal  in  the 
accomplishment  of  ends  that  man  reaches  through  higher 
intellectual  power.  On  the  whole,  it  will  be  found  that 
instinct  is  stronger  in  the  lower  than  in  the  higher  creation; 
hence  this  cannot  be  the  dividing  line  between  the  two,  else 
the  animal  must  be  accorded  the  higher  place. 


38  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

2.  Sense-perception,  —  Proceeding  to  the  next  higher 
form  of  intellectual  activity,  that  of  sense-perception,  we 
find  that  animals  possess  keener  senses  than  man.  The 
hound  follows  the  trail  of  the  fox  by  means  of  a  keen  scent, 
and  is  not  thrown  off  the  track  of  his  particular  prey  even 
though  other  animals  may  cross  it;  the  dog  traces  his  master 
through  the  streets  of  a  city,  where  thousands  of  other  men 
have  passed  to  and  fro,  with  unerring  certainty;  the  hawk 
poises  a  thousand  feet  above  the  earth  and  detects  a  snake 
or  a  mouse  moving  through  the  grass,  and  shoots  down 
from  the  sky  like  an  arrow  upon  his  victim ;  the  horse  travels 
with  perfect  security  in  the  darkest  night  when  his  master 
is  totally  unable  to  see  a  thing;  the  cat  has  no  trouble  to 
find  its  way  in  the  deepest  gloom  ;  the  watch-dog  detects 
the  slightest  suspicious  sound.  Examples  are  abundant 
to  show  that  each  animal  is  endowed  with  such  acuteness 
of  sense  as  is  necessary  for  its  self-preservation,  or  for  secur- 
ing the  end  for  which  its  life  was  designed,  and  this  acute- 
ness often  far  surpasses  that  of  man  in  the  same  direction. 
Hence,  if  sense-perception  were  the  dividing  line,  man 
would  be  placed  below  the  brute  creation. 

3.  Imagination,  —  Next  in  the  order  marking  intellec- 
tual advance  is  imagination.  It  is  difficult  to  discover 
that  animals  possess  imagination  in  any  high  form,  as  they 
cannot  convey  their  thoughts  through  speech;  but  it  is  easy 
to  discover  that  they  possess  memory,  which  is  a  form  of 
imagination.  Remarkable  instances  of  memory  on  the 
part  of  animals  are  easily  authenticated,  having  been  wit- 
nessed by  thoughtful  observers.  An  elephant  refuses  to 
cross  a  bridge  where  perhaps,  years  before,  it  had  been 
injured;  a  horse  remembers  a  road  over  which  it  had  passed 


WHO  CAN  BE  EDUCATED?  39 

or  a  house  at  which  it  had  stopped;  a  dog  remembers  a 
trick  when  called  upon  to  perform  it  by  the  one  who  taught 
it  to  him  even  though  years  have  intervened  since  it  was 
last  performed.  Examples  can  be  multiplied  showing  that 
some  animals  possess  excellent  memories.  In  this  form  of 
imagination,  that  of  memory,  it  is  certain  that  in  many 
cases  the  animal  equals  if  not  surpasses  man.  Memory 
cannot  be  the  dividing  line. 

4.  Reason,  —  When  we  come  to  reason,  we  may  well 
hesitate  to  ask  the  question.  Do  animals  reason?  Many 
psychologists  confidently  affirm  that  they  do  not,  while 
others  assert  that  they  do.  Before  we  can  intelligently 
discuss  this  question,  it  will  be  necessary  to  define  what  we 
mean  by  reason.  Ward  says  that  reason  is  the  ^*  faculty 
by  which  the  mind  reaches  conclusions. ^'^  We  understand 
reason  to  be  the  power  of  reaching  conclusions  from  certain 
premises  or  propositions,  expressed  or  understood,  the 
ability  to  proceed  from  cause  to  effect.  That  animals  pos- 
sess this  power  in  a  limited  sense,  abundant  and  reliable 
instances  on  record  •  would  seem  to  prove.  Ward  ^  relates 
many  incidents  in  which  animals  show  the  power  to  proceed 
from  cause  to  effect.  The  following  is  a  most  striking  ex- 
ample: *'In  the  summer  of  1875,  while  making  botanical 
collections  in  Rabbit  Valley  on  Fremont  River,  Utah,  the 
camp  was  several  times  invaded  by  coyotes  during  the 
absence  of  myself  and  my  assistant,  and  these  animals  would 
howl  around  us  nights,  sometimes  approaching  quite 
closely.  I  finally  set  my  fowling  piece,  both  barrels  loaded 
with  buckshot,  in  a  gulch  among  the  sagebrush  a  hundred 

*  *' Psychic  Factors  of  Civilization,"  p.  28. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  152. 


4C)  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

yards  from  the  tent,  attaching  a  piece  of  fresh  meat  to  a 
string  twenty  yards  long,  which  at  the  opposite  end  passed 
round  the  stem  of  a  bush  and  was  tied  to  both  triggers. 
The  least  jerk  on  the  string  would  fire  off  the  gun,  which 
was  carefully  aimed  in  the  direction  of,  and  a  little  over, 
the  meat.  The  next  morning  tracks  were  seen  all  about 
the  place,  but  meat,  string,  and  gim  were  untouched.  The 
second  morning  I  found  the  meat  gone  and  the  string  bitten 
off.  The  meat  had  been  dragged  six  inches  toward  the 
gim,  as  shown  by  the  mark  it  made  in  the  loose  alkaline 
soil,  and  the  string  was  slack.  The  gun  had  not  been  dis- 
charged. I  renewed  the  meat  and  reset  the  gun,  and  the 
third  night  I  heard  the  report  of  the  gun  in  the  night.  It 
was  moonlight  and  I  went  to  the  spot  as  quickly  as  possible, 
but  as  no  dead  wolves  were  to  be  found  I  left  matters  till 
morning,  when  I  found  that  the  operation  of  the  previous 
night  had  been  repeated,  but  that  by  some  accident  the 
string  had  been  pulled  and  the  gim  discharged,  probably 
without  injury  to  the  animal,  as  the  string  now  lay  out  of 
range.  I  continued  for  several  nights  to  repeat  the  experi- 
ment with  somewhat  varying  results,  but  did  not  succeed 
in  killing  any  wolves.  The  tracks  showed  that  on  the  first 
night  they  had  traversed  the  length  of  the  string  and  around 
the  gun,  evidently  exploring  the  situation  thoroughly  and 
acting  upon  the  knowledge  they  possessed." 

"Has  the  lower  animal  the  power  of  reasoning?"  asks 
the  Rev.  Charles  J.  Adams.  He  answers  his  question  as 
follows:  ''I  claim  that  I  have  discovered  four  phases  of 
reason.  These  are,  that  of  appreciation,  that  of  adapta- 
tion, that  of  imitation,  and  that  of  origination."  The 
following  incidents  are  related  to  prove  his  claim:   "A 


WHO   CAN   BE  EDUCATED? 


41 


young  lady,  with  some  friends,  was  in  an  orchard.  In  a 
field  adjoining,  two  of  her  brothers  were  at  work.  In  an 
adjoining  pasture  were  two  young  horses.  To  the  bars 
which  connected  the  field  in  which  the  young  men  were 
working  with  the  pasture,  one  of  these  horses  came  run- 
ning and  whinneying.  One  of  the  young  men,  who  did 
not  think  that  intelligence  stopped  short  off  at  man,  walked 
toward  him.  Then  the  horse  started  off,  looking  back 
over  his  shoulder  as  if  he  expected  the  young  man  to  follow. 
The  horse  was  not  disappointed,  and  the  young  man  found 
the  horse's  mate  on  his  back  in  a  ditch  unable  to  get  up. 

**Here  is  a  clear  case  of  appreciative  reason.  The  horse 
could  not  save  his  companion,  knew  that  a  man  could 
do  so,  and  did  the  sensible  thing  by  going  off  to  get  a 
man. 

"The  appreciation  of  the  output  of  any  faculty  by  an- 
other is  evidence  that  the  one  appreciating  has  the  same 
faculty.  The  musician  appreciates  those  who  have  the 
musical  faculty.  To  go  no  further  for  illustration,  did 
not  the  fact  that  the  horse  knew  that  a  man  could  act 
rationally,  prove  that  the  horse  is  endowed  with  reason?" 

Mr.  Adams  also  tells  a  story  of  a  monkey  that  had  a 
grudge  against  a  coachman,  and  took  the  following  means 
to  vent  his  spite :  he  found  his  way  through  an  open  window 
into  the  man's  room  over  the  stable,  saturated  his  bed  with 
kerosene,  which  he  obtained  by  unscrewing  the  top  of  the 
lamp,  struck  a  match  and  set  fire  to  the  bed.  "  But  admit," 
says  Mr.  Adams,  *'that  the  monkey  was  only  imitatively 
rational  in  striking  the  match,  was  there  not  something  of 
origination  in  his  unscrewing  the  top  from  the  lamp  and 
pouring  its  contents  on  the  bed?"     These  instances  seem 


42  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

to  prove  that  animals  possess  the  power  of  appreciation, 
adaptation,  imitation,  and  origination. 

A  personal  experience  with  a  dog  shows  the  power  of 
appreciative  reason,  that  of  recognizing  powers  in  man  to 
assist  where  his  power  had  reached  its  limitation.  It  was 
upon  a  farm  in  New  York  state  where  woodchucks  aboimd. 
The  dog  was  a  great  hunter,  and  there  was  scarcely  a  day 
during  the  summer  season  that  he  failed  to  run  a  wood- 
chuck  into  a  stone  fence,  when  he  would  call  for  help  by 
loud  barking.  He  came  in  one  day,  wet,  dirty,  and  tired. 
I  said  to  him  in  ordinary  tone  of  voice,  **  Sport,  have  you 
found  another  woodchuck?"  The  dog  showed  every 
demonstration  of  joy,  springing  up  to  me,  nmning  off  in  the 
direction  of  his  game,  returning,  then  starting  ofiF  again, 
plainly  begging  me  to  go  with  him.  I  got  my  hat  and  fol- 
lowed him.  As  soon  as  he  was  sure  that  I  was  coming,  he 
left  me  to  follow  a  necessarily  circuitous  route  while  he 
took  a  short  cut,  arriving  some  time  before  I  did.  He 
stood  on  top  of  the  stone  wall  and  by  his  barking  directed 
me  to  his  quarry.  Now  here  is  a  case  of  appreciative 
reasoning.  Not  being  able  to  secure  his  game  without 
assistance,  he  called  upon  one  that  he  knew  could  render 
aid. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  reasoning  is  not  the  dividing 
line,  though  no  one  would  assert  that  the  power  of  reason- 
ing on  the  part  of  animals  equals  that  of  man.  The  ani- 
mal always  reasons  in  connection  with  the  concrete,  and, 
at  best,  his  reasoning  is  elementary. 

5.  The  Power  of  Abstraction, — The  highest  form  of 
intelligence  is  the  power  of  abstraction,  the  ability  to  form 
generalizations.     Do  animals  possess  this  power?    Let  us 


WHO  CAN  BE  EDUCATED? 


43 


first  define  what  we  mean  by  abstraction.  It  is  the  with- 
drawal from  the  concrete,  the  notion  obtained  which  ex- 
ists independent  of  any  particular  object.  Thus  beauty, 
shape,  color,  weight,  attraction,  virtue,  honesty,  righteous- 
ness, etc.,  are  abstract  ideas.  Though  they  are  applied  to 
objects,  they  represent  notions  independent  of  them.^  Prin- 
ciples, axioms,  rules,  laws,  although  they  may  be  evolved 
by  means  of  many  examples,  state  a  general  or  abstract 
truth.  It  is  not  conceivable  that  an  animal  can  compre- 
hend an  abstract  truth.  Whatever  be  its  power  of  intel- 
ligence, it  is  always  associated  with  something  concrete. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  clear  distinction  which  marks 
the  difference  between  man  and  the  brute  creation.  Man 
alone  has  reached  the  power  of  abstract  thinking,  and  be- 
cause of  this  he  alone  can  be  educated.  Indeed,  the  goal 
of  instruction  is  to  reach  the  abstract,  as  McMurry  shows. ^ 

Quoting  from  Bulwer-Lytton  on  this  point,^  ^^The  more 
I  look  through  nature  the  more  I  find  that  on  all  varieties 
of  organized  life  is  carefully  bestowed  the  capacity  to  re- 
ceive the  impressions,  be  they  called  perceptions  or  ideas, 
which  are  adapted  to  the  uses  each  creature  is  intended  to 
derive  from  them.  I  find,  then,  that  man  alone  is  endowed 
with  the  capacity  to  receive  the  ideas  of  God,  of  soul,  of 
worship,  of  a  hereafter.  I  see  no  trace  of  such  a  capacity 
in  the  inferior  races;  nor,  however  their  intelligence  may  be 
refined  by  culture,  is  such  capacity  ever  apparent  in  them." 

Further  he  adds: 

**  *  Man  alone,'  says  MuUer,  *  can  conceive  abstract  notions ;' 
and  it  is  in  abstract  notions,  such  as  time,  space,  matter, 

^  See  McMurry's  "Method  of  the  Recitation,"  for  a  discussion  of  in- 
dividual and  general  notions. 

'  Ihid.,  p.  51.  ^  "A  Strange  Story,"  p.  345. 


44  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

spirit,  light,  form,  quantity,  essence,  that  man  grounds, 
not  only  all  his  philosophy,  all  science,  but  all  that  prac- 
tically improves  one  generation  for  the  benefit  of  the  next. 
And  why?  Because  all  these  abstract  notions  uncon- 
sciously lead  the  mind  away  from  the  material  into  the 
immaterial,  from  the  present  into  the  future." 

The  child  begins  to  learn  to  count  with  objects,  but  the 
lesson  is  not  learned  until  he  can  add,  subtract,  multiply, 
etc.,  without  any  objects  at  hand,  until  he  possesses  the 
abstract  notion.  It  may  seem  that  as  man  and  the  animal 
run  parallel  in  their  manifestations  of  intelligence  as  we 
have  traced,  the  difference  between  them  is  but  slight. 
But  the  power  of  abstraction,  which  man  possesses  and 
which  the  animal  totally  lacks,  marks  a  mighty  chasm 
which  can  never  be  bridged.  The  intellectual  distance 
between  the  lowest  type  of  man  and  the  highest  type  of 
animal  has  not  been  lessened  during  the  ages  and  never 
can  be  lessened,  for  man's  progress  is  due  to  his  power  of 
abstract  reasoning,  a  power  which  no  animal  possesses  in 
any  degree  whatever.  Man  has  progressed  of  his  own 
impulse  and  volition.  Horses  can  run  a  mile  in  two  min- 
utes, not  because  they  have  set  this  goal  for  themselves, 
but  because  man  set  that  goal,  and  through  breeding,  train- 
ing, and  improved  facilities  he  has  brought  the  horse  to  the 
desired  speed.  Dogs  have  reached  wonderful  perfection 
and  beauty,  and  have  learned  to  perform  remarkable  tricks, 
not  of  their  own  volition  but  because  another  and  higher 
intelligence  has  taken  them  in  hand  and  by  long- continued 
and  painstaking  efforts  has  secured  the  end  sought.  The  dog 
is  more  intelligent  in  some  respects  and  less  intelligent  in 
others  than  he  was  in  his  wild  state  a  thousand  years  ago 


WHO   CAN   BE  EDUCATED?  45 

before  he  was  domesticated  by  man.  Not  an  animal  is 
one  whit  better  or  more  intelligent  than  were  his  ancestors 
thousands  of  years  ago  because  he  planned  to  better  his 
species  or  reach  higher  aims.  Every  particle  of  improve- 
ment in  him  is  due  to  the  fact  of  his  contact  with  man,  who, 
with  the  power  of  abstract  reasoning,  saw  possibilities  in 
him  and  patiently  proceeded  to  realize  those  possibilities. 
It  is  inconceivable  that  it  should  be  otherwise.  The  animal 
can  be  trained,  but  man  alone  can  be  educated. 

I  have  traced  this  parallel  thus  carefully  for  another 
reason,  which  will  be  apparent;  that  is,  to  emphasize  the 
thought  that  as  abstraction  is  characteristic  of  human 
intelligence  alone,  it  therefore  marks  a  definite  aim  in  the 
education  of  man.  The  teacher,  while  proceeding  from 
the  concrete,  must  not  stop  until  the  abstract  has  been 
reached.  Knowledge  must  be  pursued  until  it  is  fully 
incorporated  in  the  mind  of  the  child  as  general  notions. 

If  the  preceding  reasoning  is  correct,  the  theory  which 
makes  man  descendant  of  lower  animals  must  of  neces- 
sity fall  to  the  ground,  for  the  distance  between  man  and 
the  creature  representing  the  highest  evolutional  develop- 
ment from  an  intellectual  standpoint  is  as  great  as  it  ever 
was,  and  that  distance  is  immeasurable  and  infinite.  Evo- 
lution from  a  physical  standpoint  may  be  capable  of  proof; 
but  from  an  intellectual  standpoint  —  that  which  distin- 
guishes man  —  the  ages  have  marked  no  progress  in  the 
lower  animals. 

Louis  Agassiz,  in  his  *' Essay  on  Classification,"  says, 
''AH  the  facts  proclaim  aloud  the  one  God  whom  man 
may  know,  adore,  and  love,  and  natural  history  must  in 
good  time  become  the  analysis  of  the  thoughts  of  the 


46  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

Creator  of  the  universe."  A  writer  who  knew  Agassiz  well, 
comments  upon  him  as  follows:  *^ Every  living  thing  repre- 
sented not  so  much  animated  matter,  but  a  thought  of  the 
Creator,  and  the  group  to  which  it  belonged,  this  thought 
working  itself  out  through  the  centuries.  For  he  believed 
in  an  evolution.  But  the  evolution  of  Darwin  did  not 
exist  for  him.  He  did  not  believe  in  an  evolution  by  trans- 
mutation. His  was  an  evolution,  not  by  organic  forces 
within,  but  according  to  a  great  intelligent  plan  without. 
Not  by  a  change  of  one  species  into  another,  but  by  the 
substitution  of  one  for  another,  according  to  this  great 
plan.  His  devout  reverence  for  the  things  of  nature  made 
itself  manifest  in  his  work.  He  said,  ^  I  never  make  prep- 
arations for  penetrating  into  some  small  province  hitherto 
undiscovered,  without  breathing  a  prayer  to  the  Being  who 
hides  his  secrets  from  me.'  For  him  the  laboratory  was  a 
sanctuary,  the  study  of  the  things  of  nature,  intercourse 
with  the  Creator." 

Dr.  Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  who  discovered  the  theory  of 
evolution  independently  of  and  simultaneously  with  Darwin, 
differed  from  the  latter  as  to  the  origin  of  man  from  an 
intellectual  and  moral  standpoint.  He  says,  ^*  The  belief 
and  teaching  of  Darwin  was  that  man's  whole  nature  — 
physical,  mental,  intellectual  and  moral  —  was  developed 
from  the  lower  animals  by  means  of  the  same  laws  of  varia- 
tion and  survival;  and,  as  a  consequence  of  this  belief,  that 
there  was  no  difference  in  kind  between  man's  nature  and 
animal  nature,  but  only  one  of  degree.  My  view,  on  the 
other  hand,  was,  and  is,  that  there  is  a  difference  in  kind, 
intellectually  and  morally,  between  man  and  other  animals; 
and  that  while  his  body  was  undoubtedly  developed  by  con- 


WHO   CAN   BE  EDUCATED?  47 

tinuous  modification  of  some  ancestral  animal  form,  some 
difiEerent  agency,  analogous  to  that  which  first  produced 
organic  life  and  then  originated  consciousness,  came  into 
play  in  order  to  develop  the  higher  intellectual  and  spiritual 
nature  of  man.'' 

We  are  now  ready  to  answer  the  question,  Who  can  be 
educated?  Man  alone  can  be  educated,  for  he  alone  is 
self-active,  self-conscious,  self- directing,  responsible  for  his 
acts;  he  alone  possesses  the  power  of  generalization,  the 
power  of  abstraction.  The  answer  suggests  very  important 
problems  inherent  in  the  nature  of  education.  In  the 
light  of  this  answer  the  aphorism,  "From  the  concrete  to 
the  abstract,"  which  is  the  law  of  educational  procedure, 
takes  a  broad  meaning.  It  is  certain  that  with  the  child 
we  must  begin  with  the  concrete,  but  too  often  our  work 
ceases  before  the  abstract  conception  is  reached.  In  so 
far  as  this  is  true,  the  educational  end  has  not  been  attained. 
A  good  illustration  of  this  is  found  in  the  practice  of  chil- 
dren to  continue  to  count  with  their  fingers.  The  trouble 
Is,  they  have  not  yet  reached  the  abstract  conception.  No 
child  will  use  objects  in  counting  if  he  can  get  along  with- 
out them.  The  child  avails  himself  of  "short-cuts"  as 
truly  as  the  adult.  What  the  teacher  should  do  is  not  to 
forbid  the  child  to  employ  objects,  but  to  give  him,  through 
drill  and  many  repetitions,  such  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  numbers  he  employs  that  he  no  longer  thinks  of  objects, 
or  needs  them,  but  knows  the  number  in  the  abstract. 
Not  until  this  end  is  reached  can  the  instruction  in  any 
field  be  called  completed.  When  to  employ  the  concrete 
and  when  to  employ  the  abstract  is  a  question  that  will 
receive  attention  in  later  pages. 


48  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

Summary 

Man  alone  is  self-active,  self-directive,  and  self-conscious, 
possessing  the  ability  to  actualize  himself  through  his  own 
ejjorts.  He  has  the  power  of  abstraction,  and  this  places 
him  far  above  animal  creations.  It  marks  a  gulf  that  is 
inconceivable  for  them  to  pass.  Because  of  this  power  pos- 
sessed alone  by  man^  he  alone  can  be  educated. 


CHAPTER    V 

ELECTIVE    STUDIES 

References.  —  Eliot ^  Educational  Reforms;  Payne j  Education 
of  Teachers;  Bain,  Education  as  a  Science;  De  Garmo,  Interest 
and  Education;  Fouillee,  Education  from  a  National  Standpoint; 
Report  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen;  ShaWj  A  new  Course  of  Study. 

The  Election  of  Studies.  —  The  question  of  the  course  of 
study  and  the  choice  of  subjects  to  be  pursued  has  met 
with  wide  discussion  in  recent  years,  presenting  all  points 
of  view  from  extreme  individualism,  which  would  allow  the 
child  upon  entering  school  to  choose  what  he  likes  best  and 
pursue  that,  to  the  rigid  curriculum  of  the  old-fashioned  col- 
lege. In  most  institutions  of  higher  learning  there  is  an 
increasing  tendency  to  enlarge  the  list  of  elective  studies, 
until  in  many  universities  practically  all  of  the  work  is  thrown 
open  to  the  free  election  of  the  student.  The  course  of 
study  has  undergone  many  modifications  to  meet  new 
demands,  to  support  and  further  new  discoveries,  and  to 
keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  civilization.  College  fac- 
ulties, superintendents  and  teachers  everywhere  are  ear- 
nestly seeking  to  offer  the  best  that  mature  learning  and 
experience  can  suggest  for  the  advancement  of  those  whose 
lives  they  are  shaping.  It  would  be  folly  to  discard  the 
results  of  such  long- continued  and  conscientious  study. 
One  of  the  most  suggestive  evidences  of  educational  prog- 
ress is  found  in  the  enriched,  systematized,  well-balanced, 
carefully  worked  out  courses  of  study.  They  are  not  want- 
ing in  fundamental  elements,  they  furnish  a  working  basis 
of  study,  they  suggest  a  point  from  which  to  start,  and, 


50  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

therefore,  must  be  a  far  safer  guide  to  the  young  person 
than  his  own  inclination,  or  even  his  own  judgment. 

Election  in  the  Elementary  School.  —  Having  estab- 
lished the  character,  value,  and  necessity  of  the  course  of 
study,  we  may  proceed  to  ask  how  far  it  should  control 
in  shaping  the  work  of  the  student,  how  much  choice  should 
he  have  in  the  subjects  he  takes?  Beginning  with  the 
elementary  school,  no  elective  should  be  possible  for  two 
general  reasons  —  (i)  it  is  the  period  in  which  an  all- 
round  development  is  to  be  gained,  the  period  for  obtain- 
ing a  general  culture;  (2)  it  is  the  time  when  character  is 
being  formed.  Discussing  these  points  separately  the 
child  is  incapable  of  selecting  the  subjects  that  will  furnish 
him  complete  development.  We  have  seen  that  the  effort 
to  outline  in  courses  of  study  the  material  that  will  produce 
such  culture  has  cost  the  best  thought  and  study  of  educa- 
tors for  many  generations,  and  yet  without  wholly  satis- 
factory results.  It  cannot  be  expected  that  an  immature 
child  will  be  able  to  select  the  proper  material  for  his  cul- 
ture. Again,  he  is  apt  to  be  influenced  in  his  choice  by 
superficial  causes,  such  as  the  popularity  of  a  teacher, 
the  subjects  that  are  easy  for  him,  likes  or  dislikes,  etc. 
Miinsterberg  has  shown  that  it  does  not  follow  that  a 
child's  seeming  aptitudes  are  always  permanent,  that  they 
foreshadow  what  his  life  work  will  be.  Hence,  his  course 
must  be  chosen  for  him  and  he  must  be  held  to  it  whether 
or  not  he  likes  it  until  a  foundation  of  general  culture  has 
been  established.  It  by  no  means  follows  that  one  should 
not  be  required  to  do  things  he  does  not  like  to  do.     Tasks 

*  See  Chap.  XVI  for  treatment  of  the  Course  of  Study. 


ELECTIVE  STUDIES 


51 


must  be  performed  in  school  however  distasteful  they  may 
be,  and  this  is  one  of  the  best  means  of  training  for  duty, 
and  preparing  to  meet  life's  dif&culties. 

The  Period  of  Character-Forming.  —  In  the  next  place, 
and  perhaps  of  even  more  importance  than  the  incapacity 
of  the  child  to  select  his  course,  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that 
this  is  the  formative  period,  the  time  when  character  is 
being  formed  and  established.  If  this  is  the  chief  end  of 
education,  great  weight  must  be  attached  to  the  effect  of 
any  policy  on  character-forming.  The  grade  teacher,  who 
has  charge  of  the  class  for  the  full  day  for  an  entire  year 
or  longer,  must  certainly  come  into  much  closer  touch  with 
children  than  the  specialist,  who  meets  them  for  a  single 
period  a  day  and  then  has  no  further  responsibility.  The 
former  thinks  of  the  whole  child,  his  needs,  his  aptitudes, 
his  weaknesses,  his  discipline,  the  formation  of  his  habits, 
his  growth  into  a  perfect  well-balanced  manhood.  The 
latter  very  naturally  devotes  himself  to  his  subject  and 
the  problem  of  furthering  the  class  in  that  work.  From 
the  very  nature  of  things,  the  motive  of  the  specialist  is  the 
advancement  of  his  pupils  in  his  special  work,  regardless 
of  the  other  work  that  the  child  may  be  pursuing.  He  is 
responsible  for  that  work  alone,  and  his  success  as  a  teacher 
is  measured  by  the  progress  of  the  pupils  therein.  Hence, 
it  often  occurs  that  the  enthusiast  in  some  specialty  may 
overwork  his  class  to  the  detriment  of  other  studies  and 
at  the  expense  of  general  development. 

The  grade  teacher,  on  the  other  hand,  carries  the  work 
along  evenly,  lightening  tasks  in  one  subject  when  some 
other  subject  demands  more  attention,  spurring  up  pupils 


52  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

that  are  dull,  while  checking  any  that  are  prematurely 
bright,  having  patience  with  those  that  are  slow  to 
comprehend,  and  thereby  securing  well-balanced  work. 
Surely  no  teacher  of  a  single  subject,  meeting  a  class  but 
once  a  day,  can  obtain  so  thorough  acquaintance  with  the 
capacities  or  the  characteristics  of  a  class  as  the  grade 
teacher.  It  will  readily  be  admitted  that  the  specialist 
knows  his  subject  better  and  may  be  able  to  present  it 
better  than  the  grade  teacher  who  must  teach  several  sub- 
jects. But  for  young  children  this  is  not  so  important 
as  the  well-ordered,  coordinated,  and  harmonious  presenta- 
tion of  all  the  work.  In  the  work,  as  well  as  in  the  disci- 
pline, the  teacher  is  to  form  right  habits.  With  older 
children,  when  the  habits  are  established,  the  emphasis 
may  be  laid  upon  the  character  of  the  work. 

The  main  thing  with  young  children  is  the  strong  person- 
ality of  the  teacher,  and  this  evinces  itself  far  better  in  the 
teacher  who  has  the  class  the  whole  day  in  all  of  its  sub- 
jects, and  who  disciplines  the  children,  not  merely  to  main- 
tain order  during  the  period  of  instruction,  but  to  estabhsh 
those  habits  and  to  secure  that  general  power  of  self- 
control  which  form  good  character.  The  grade  teacher 
is  able  to  understand  the  child  in  all  his  needs.  This  far 
overbalances  any  peculiar  power  that  the  specialist  may 
possess  in  the  presentation  of  subject-matter.  Nor  is 
it  too  much  to  expect  of  the  grade  teacher  in  elementary 
work  that  he  shall  be  master  of  all  the  subjects  he  is  called 
upon  to  teach. 

It  is  of  highest  importance  that  the  teacher  of  young 
children  should  come  into  closest  touch  with  them,  not 
only  in  their  studies,  but  also  in  their  play,  and  also  in  all 


ELECTIVE  STUDIES  53 

matters  that  enlist  their  interests.  This  can  be  done  only 
when  the  teacher  is  their  constant  companion,  guide,  and 
friend.  Thus  can  the  evil  influences  growing  out  of  the 
outside  environment  of  many  children  be  counteracted  and 
overcome.  The  specialist,  who  meets  a  different  class 
each  period  of  the  day,  teaching  perhaps  a  total  of  two  or 
three  hundred  children,  can  know  but  little  about  the  indi- 
vidual. He  will  do  well  if  he  learns  the  name  of  each,  to 
say  nothing  of  individual  characteristics.  His  discipHne 
necessarily  has  for  its  purpose  the  maintenance  of  order 
during  the  lesson,  and  if  that  is  attained  no  further  respon- 
sibility in  this  respect  is  laid  upon  him.  But  discipline  must 
have  a  much  higher  ultimate  aim  than  this.  It  must  inculcate 
the  power  of  self-control;  it  must  teach  self-respect  as  well  as 
respect  for  the  rights  of  others;  it  must  lead  to  good  habits; 
it  must  form  character.  The  teacher  who  is  the  companion 
of  the  pupils  during  the  whole  day  will  be  able  to  encour- 
age when  a  word  of  encouragement  is  needed,  reprove  when 
reproof  is  necessary,  assist  when  the  critical  moment  for 
assistance  has  come,  spur  up  the  lazy,  and  restrain  the 
overzealous,  and  by  word  and  deed  and  by  kindly  interest 
further  every  honest  effort  and  check  every  evil  tendency. 
He  will  also  carry  his  study  of  the  individual  child  to  his 
home,  when  peculiar  circumstances  require,  and  he  will 
seek  to  know  and  counteract  the  influences  that  hinder  or 
debase.  These  things  are  impossible  to  the  specialist  be- 
cause of  the  numbers  involved  and  because  his  interest  is 
in  his  subject  rather  than  in  the  individual  child. 

To  summarize,  the  grade  teacher's  interest  lies  in  the 
child,  his  growth,  his  general  advancement,  and  his  perfect 
development  in  all  directions,  while  the  specialist's  interest 


54  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

lies  in  the  accomplishment  of  certain  ends  in  the  mastery 
of  subject-matter. 

Instead  of  dividing  the  lessons  of  the  day  among  a  num- 
ber of  teachers,  there  is  a  tendency  in  some  schools  to  con- 
tinue a  teacher  with  a  class  for  three  to  four  years,  the 
teacher  moving  up  with  the  class.  Such  practice  is  excel- 
lent for  both  pupils  and  teachers,  —  for  pupils,  because 
definite  and  permanent  impressions  may  thereby  be  made 
by  a  strong,  intelligent,  and  zealous  teacher  ;  for  teachers, 
because  broader  views  of  education  and  of  life  are 
attained  than  is  possible  when  the  same  grade  of  work  is 
pursued  year  after  year.  The  tendency  of  teaching  is  to 
narrow  one's  life,  because  the  teacher  is  constantly  appeal- 
ing to  persons  inferior  in  knowledge  and  experience,  and 
that  effect  is  intensified  when  one  continues  in  the  same 
grade  year  after  year.  To  carry  a  class  through  three 
years  thus  takes  the  teacher  into  new  fields,  but  does  not 
take  him  far  away  from  the  particular  work  wherein  lie 
his  aptitude  and  his  strength.  After  completing  the  three 
or  four  years  with  a  class  the  teacher  starts  at  the  begin- 
ning with  a  new  class.  The  impression  that  an  efficient 
teacher  might  make  upon  a  class  in  three  years  would  be 
lasting,  affecting  in  all  probability  their  whole  lives.  The 
wonderful  impression  that  Thomas  Arnold,  Mary  Lyon, 
or  Mark  Hopkins  made  upon  students  did  not  come 
from  the  recitation  alone,  but  from  the  personal  contact 
of  strong  lives  for  a  period  of  years.  And  this  is  the  chief 
reason  for  the  eminent  success  of  many  private  schools  — 
the  personal,  daily,  continued  intercourse  of  teachers  and 
pupils.  But  what  if  the  teacher  is  incompetent  or  unsuited 
to  inspire  the  highest  intellectual  and  moral  endeavor? 


ELECTIVE  STUDIES  55 

For  such  there  is  no  law.  No  system  of  pedagogy  can 
provide  a  place  for  them  or  contemplate  their  presence  in 
the  school.     They  have  no  place  there. 

In  the  High  School.  —  The  reasons  for  non-election  of 
studies  and  against  the  employment  of  specialists  in  the 
elementary  school  have  less  weight  in  the  high  school.  The 
pupils  are  well  established  in  character,  they  are  experi- 
enced enough  to  have  some  voice  in  the  choice  of  their 
work.  The  subjects,  too,  are  so  much  broader  that  it  could 
hardly  be  expected  that  a  teacher  should  become  expert  in 
the  several  themes  involved  in  a  daily  program.  Chief 
attention  may  now  be  given  to  the  presenting  of  subject- 
matter,  whereas,  it  has  been  urged  that  in  the  earlier  course 
the  child  must  be  the  central  thought.  The  high  school 
student  is  mature  enough  to  be  largely  self- directive,  he 
is  more  capable  of  judging  what  he  needs.  Hence  the 
thought  of  the  teacher  may  be  devoted  to  the  presentation 
of  his  material.  It  is  of  utmost  importance  that  the  high 
school  teacher  should  possess  greater  knowledge  and 
breadth  in  his  particular  field  than  would  be  possible  if 
he  were  required  to  teach  many  subjects.  The  Hterature 
of  each  field  grows  wider  and  the  demands  are  more  exact- 
ing, the  more  advanced  the  subject  becomes.  For  this 
reason  it  is  well  recognized  that  in  the  college  and  the  uni- 
versity the  teachers  must  be  speciaHsts. 

Whether  or  not  the  pupils  in  the  high  school  should  be 
allowed  to  choose  their  subjects,  even  though  they  are 
taught  by  specialists,  is  another  question.  The  New  Jersey 
Council  of  Education,  after  extended  discussion,  expressed 
itself  as  follows  upon  this  point:  "Resolved,  That  in  the 


56  Elementary  pedagogy 

opinion  of  the  Council  the  miscellaneous  election  of  studies 
in  the  high  school  is  not  desirable,  but  that  the  best  results 
are  to  be  obtained  by  a  judicious  study  of  the  aptitudes  of 
pupils,  and  such  selection  of  courses  as  seem  to  be  in  ac- 
cordance with  such  aptitudes.  This  should  also  involve 
consultations  with  parents  and  former  teachers."  Every 
well-organized  high  school  will  have  at  least  two  general 
purposes,  namely,  to  prepare  students  for  college,  and 
those  who  cannot  go  to  college  for  life.  To  limit  its 
work  to  the  first  purpose  is  to  give  over  an  institution  sup- 
ported by  public  taxation  to  the  service  of  the  comparative 
few  of  its  supporters  and  constituents.  The  high  school 
must  fit  for  college  in  order  to  gain  a  standing  among  insti- 
tutions of  learning,  as  well  as  for  the  direct  purpose  of  meet- 
ing the  needs  of  even  a  minority,  but  it  must  also  be  a 
"people's  college"  for  those  whose  schooling  can  extend 
no  further  and  who  must  be  equipped  for  life.  It  may  be 
difficult  to  outline  just  what  the  material  should  be  to  meet 
this  second  demand.  There  are  some  things  in  the  spe- 
cific requirements  of  college  entrance  that  are  not  needed 
in  the  preparation  for  the  future.  The  college  course  is  or- 
ganized with  the  idea  of  preparing  for  broad  culture  and  pos- 
sibly for  a  professional  career.  The  college,  therefore,  must 
require  certain  specific  preparation  to  enable  the  student 
to  enter  upon  and  successfully  carry  out  the  work  thus 
planned.  It  is  definitely  understood  that  the  college  is 
another  step  in  the  completion  of  the  young  man's  educa- 
tion. But  the  high  school  must  have  some  courses  that 
are  complete,  that  do  not  contemplate  later  courses. 

Every  well-equipped  high  school  will  have  at  least  four 
courses  —  a  classical  course^  a  scientific  course,  an  English 


ELECTIVE  STUDIES  57 

course,  and  a  commercial  course.  These  courses  should 
be  so  arranged  as  to  require  practically  the  same  work  for 
the  first  two  years,  the  principal  differentiations  taking  place 
during  the  last  two  years,  especially  in  small  schools  where 
there  is  limited  teaching  force  and  where  economy  must 
be  practiced.  This  would  necessitate  all  courses  embrac- 
ing at  least  Latin,  one  or  more  modern  languages,  higher 
mathematics,  some  science,  literature,  and  history  —  the 
essential  subjects  both  for  college  preparation  and  for  life. 
None  of  these  should  be  omitted  from  the  education  of  any 
person,  even  though  he  devotes  himself  to  business.  The 
child  should  be  allowed  to  choose  his  course  upon  entering 
the  high  school,  his  parents  and  former  teachers  being 
called  into  consultation.  But  the  final  decision  need  not 
be  made  until  the  end  of  the  second  year,  provided  the 
courses  are  planned  as  above  outlined.  He  is  far  more 
competent  to  make  this  final  decision  at  the  end  of  the 
second  high  school  year  than  he  was  when  he  left  the  gram- 
mar school,  a  mere  child.  He  is  less  likely  to  be  influenced 
by  such  matters  as  the  reputation  of  instructors,  the  deci- 
sion of  other  children,  or  the  imagined  easiest  course.  He 
is  initiated  into  the  life  of  the  high  school,  begins  to  under- 
stand his  own  needs  and  capabilities,  hears  more  about 
going  to  college,  is  clearer  as  to  the  occupation  he  may 
follow,  and  is  better  prepared  to  decide.  For  these 
reasons  no  mistake  should  be  made  in  the  work  out- 
lined for  him  during  the  first  two  years,  that  will  exclude 
him  from  the  choice  of  a  course  best  suited  to  his  needs. 
It  would  seem  clear  that  the  high  school  student  should 
be  allowed  no  choice  other  than  as  to  the  course  he  will 
pursue,  at  least  for  the  first  two  years.    If,  then,  he  is  fully 


58  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

decided  as  to  his  future  purpose  he  may  settle  upon  his 
course,  and  that,  in  the  main,  should  be  followed  as  pre- 
scribed. We  have  already  seen  that  the  course  of  study 
is  the  result  of  centuries  of  consideration  and  experiment  by 
wise  men.  This  cannot  be  ignored  and  must  count  for  more 
than  the  whim  and  inexperience  of  a  child.  Only  in  excep- 
tional cases  should  election  be  allowed  in  the  high  school. 
These  exceptions  would  involve  those  that  are  preparing 
for  some  later  special  course  or  those  to  whom  the  high 
school  is  the  end  of  their  schooling. 

In  the  Higher  Institutions.  —  In  the  college  and  univer- 
sity the  usual  plan  is  to  allow  but  little  choice  in  the  fresh- 
man year,  a  larger  choice  in  each  of  the  succeeding  years, 
until  the  senior  year  when  the  work  is  nearly  all  elective. 
The  question  of  electives  in  college  is  still  in  the  experi- 
mental stage,  the  authorities  themselves  not  being  agreed 
as  to  what  is  wisest.  Conservative  opinion  favors,  inas- 
much as  the  young  man  entering  college  is  introduced  to 
a  new  environment,  that  his  work  be  marked  out  for  the 
first  year  until  **he  finds  himself."  After  that  he  may 
have  a  voice  in  shaping  his  subjects  of  study  with  refer- 
ence to  his  proposed  life  work.  In  purely  university  work 
the  young  man  has  sufficient  maturity  and  knowledge  to 
enable  him  to  know  exactly  what  he  wants  and  to  choose 
wisely.     Therefore,  the  work  may  all  be  elective. 

When  the  foundation  of  general  culture  has  been  laid, 
the  specialist  will  never  become  narrow.  He  will  view 
civilization  with  a  large  vision,  and  while  he  concentrates 
his  time  and  his  efforts  in  furthering  the  special  work  to 
which  he  has  devoted  himself,  he  will  also  find  time  and 


ELECTIVE  STUDIES 


59 


inclination  to  be  interested  in  many  other  fields  of  activity 
and  thought.  He  will  be  the  better  specialist  because  of 
the  larger  view  that  broad  culture  engenders,  and  at  the 
same  time,  he  will  take  his  place  among  men,  entering  into 
their  thoughts  and  lives,  and  thus  find  a  place  of  eminent 
usefulness  and  service. 


Summary 

/.  The  course  of  study  in  the  elementary  school  should 
embrace  each  of  the  fields  of  human  knowledge  properly  har- 
monized and  correlated  until  general  culture  has  been  se- 
cured. It  should  take  into  account  the  physical  and  intel- 
lectual growth  of  the  child.  It  should  seek  to  meet  the  aim 
for  the  school  for  which  it  is  intended, 

II.  The  election  of  studies  should  be  allowed  only  in 
advanced  courses  after  general  culture  has  been  attained. 
Specialization  should  be  practiced  only  in  the  higher  schools, 
after  the  child's  character  is  established.  The  influence  of 
the  grade  teacher  is  the  most  potent  force  in  the  formation 
of  the  character  of  young  children. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   GAINING   OF   KNOWLEDGE 

References.  —  Rooper,  A  Pot  of  Green  Feathers;  LangCj  Apper- 
ception; McMurry,  General  Method;  Bain^  Education  as  a  Science; 
Johonnot,  Theory  and  Practice;  Rosminiy  Method  in  Education. 

The  little  child  is  born  into  the  world  an  utter  stranger. 
He  possesses  nothing  but  the  capacity  to  be  educated,  the 
possibility  of  knowing.  Without  this  he  cannot  be  educated. 
He  has  five  avenues  through  which  he  becomes  acquainted 
with  the  outer  world  —  seeing,  hearing,  touching,  tast- 
ing, and  smelling.  He  does  not  know  how  to  use  a  single 
one  of  these  possessions,  he  must  learn  to  see,  hear,  feel, 
taste,  and  smell.  The  whole  process  of  education  consists 
in  making  the  strange,  the  unknown,  familiar  and  known. 
All  that  is  possible  in  human  knowledge  lies  between  the 
condition  of  a  new  born  babe  and  a  Solomon  or  an  Aristotle. 
The  child  masters,  step  by  step,  the  great  mysteries  of  the 
world  until  what  was  at  first  inexplicable  becomes  a 
matter  of  familiar  knowledge. 

The  Senses  as  Means  of  Gaining  Knowledge.  —  Through 
the  eye  he  learns  to  measure  distance,  to  determine  shape, , 
to  distinguish  color  and  form,  to  recognize  symbols,  to 
appreciate  the  external  beauties  of  the  world.  Through 
special  training  he  may  be  able  to  note  great  distances,  as 
the  sailor  at  sea  or  the  herdsman  on  the  prairie,  on  the  one 
hand,  or  the  minutest  details,  as  the  jeweler  or  the  micro- 
scopist,  or  the  trapper  in  the  forest,  on  the  other  hand. 

60 


THE  GAINING  OF  KNOWLEDGE  6l 

Through  the  ear  he  learns  first  to  distinguish  his  mother's 
voice,  and  later  through  patient  training  he  may  become 
able  to  detect  the  finest  differences  in  notes  of  music,  and 
to  appreciate  the  most  delicate  and  exquisite  melodies. 
If  he  devotes  himself  to  it,  his  ear  may  become  so  acute  as 
to  be  able  to  distinguish  and  interpret  sounds  in  the  wilder- 
ness or  in  the  night-time  that  to  the  untrained  ear  would 
be  meaningless,  or  even  unheard.  The  words  of  an  un- 
known tongue  at  first  sound  like  a  strange  jargon;  but 
soon  the  ear  becomes  accustomed  to  them,  the  sounds  are 
separated  into  words,  and  intelligent  comprehension  fol- 
lows. 

By  means  of  the  taste  he  becomes  acquainted  with  the 
nutriments  that  sustain  the  body  and  afford  pleasure,  as  well 
as  with  those  that  are  dangerous  and  unwholesome.  Very 
much  of  the  pleasure  of  life  depends  upon  the  taste.  That 
the  taste  is  capable  of  training  is  manifest.  Every  person 
has  experiences  in  learning  to  like  certain  foods  and  liquids. 
A  person  who  had  been  obliged  to  take  quinine  for  malaria 
came  to  like  it  as  a  child  likes  candy.  Few  people  are  fond 
of  olives  when  they  first  taste  them,  and  the  use  of  tobacco 
has  to  be  cultivated.  Some  peoples,  long  habituated  to 
certain  kinds  of  food,  eat  them  with  relish,  whereas  the 
stranger  visiting  them  temporarily,  regards  such  food  with 
disrelish,  if  not  disgust.  Keenness  of  taste  may  be  devel- 
oped, as  in  case  of  the  tea-merchant,  the  wine-tester,  or  the 
butter- buyer. 

The  smell,  though  not  of  so  great  importance  as  the 
other  senses  in  unfolding  a  knowledge  of  the  world  about 
us,  is  nevertheless  a  means  of  obtaining  knowledge  that 
can  be  obtained  in  no  other  way.     The  scent  of  musk,  the 


6^  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

odor  of  cooked  foods,  the  delicious  perfume  of  flowers,  can 
never  be  known  except  through  the  smell.  Professor  Cook 
says:^  ''Smell  has  importance  even  as  related  to  cookery, 
what  we  call  tasting  things  being  for  the  most  part  smelling 
them.  For  example,  if  a  blind  man  were  to  hold  his  nose 
he  could  not,  from  the  taste  alone,  tell  whether  he  were 
eating  beef,  mutton,  or  pork.  A  man  blindfolded  and  his 
nose  held  cannot  tell,  by  tasting  them,  a  slice  of  onion  from 
a  slice  of  apple  as  one  after  the  other  is  laid  on  his  tongue. 
At  the  table  it  is  not  the  flavors  of  the  things  that  delight 
us,  but  the  smell,  for,  as  we  have  said,  we  taste  nothing  but 
sour  and  salt,  bitter  and  sweet. 

''Not  only  the  food  itself,  but  the  accompaniments  of 
the  feast,  were  made  to  minister  to  smell  by  the  ancients. 
Athenaeus  relates  that,  at  the  banquet  he  has  described, 
the  dishes  had  been  made  by  baking  perfumed  clay  with 
aromatic  woods  as  fuel.  Other  cases  of  the  ornamental 
uses  of  odors  were  found  in  the  Roman  theaters,  the  air 
of  which  was  perfumed.  Incense  in  houses  of  worship 
was  another  instance." 

Smell  plays  a  far  more  important  part  in  the  enjoy- 
ments of  life  than  we  ordinarily  think.  It  is  therefore  a 
valuable  means  of  knowledge.  Professor  Cook  further  says, 
"It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  men  even  are  not  assisted 
by  smell.  A  certain  blind  man,  we  are  told,  could  by 
smell  alone  tell  if  cats  were  in  the  house,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  several  doors  intervened  between  him  and 
them.  A  blind  man,  named  Mitchell,  knew  by  smell, 
whether,  for  example,  one  was  a  rogue,  a  miser,  or  what 
not.     But  why  do  we  speak  of  this  when  there  is  a  Jaeger  ? 

*  "Psychology,"  p.  lo. 


THE  GAINING   OF  KNOWLEDGE  63 

This  eminent  man,  a  designer  of  woolen  clothes,  claims  to 
have  proved  that  every  nation,  kindred,  tribe,  family,  and 
individual  may  be  known  by  the  smell,  and  thinks  that 
even  the  secret  of  heredity  can  be  gotten  at  by  it." 

Through  the  sense  of  touch  a  vast  field  of  knowledge  is 
obtained  that  can  be  reached  in  no  other  way.  Pain,  heat, 
gravity,  and  resistance  are  comprehended  by  touch.  Helen 
Keller  is  a  noted  example  of  the  wide  range  of  knowledge 
that  can  be  gained  through  this  means  alone.  Not  only 
has  this  remarkable  woman  acquired  a  store  of  knowledge 
equal  to  most  women  of  her  age,  but  by  indomitable  per- 
severance, added  to  an  unusual  capacity,  she  completed 
a  thorough  college  course  at  the  age  of  twenty- four,  although 
totally  deprived  of  sight  and  hearing.  She  was  obliged  to 
depend  solely  upon  the  sense  of  touch  as  a  means  of  gaining 
the  knowledge  necessary  to  entitle  her  to  a  degree,  and 
in  spite  of  the  terrible  handicap,  she  bravely  surmounted 
all  obstacles  and  completed  her  course  with  credit.  This 
case  illustrates  that  a  large  amount  of  knowledge  can  be 
obtained  in  spite  of  great  obstacles.  It  shows  how  much 
can  be  gained  through  the  sense  of  touch  alone. 

Many  things  that  can  be  learned  only  by  means  of  the  eye 
and  ear  will  forever  remain  incomprehensible  to  her.  The 
beauties  of  color  and  harmonies  of  music  are  wholly  out- 
side of  the  possibility  of  her  comprehension.  Helen 
Keller's  case  illustrates  that  where  one  or  more  senses 
are  lacking,  the  remaining  ones  become  the  more  keen. 
The  blind  become  acute  in  hearing  and  touch,  and  the  mute 
very  observing  with  the  eye.  Deprived  of  seeing,  the  bhnd 
learn  to  take  care  of  themselves  through  the  greater  acute- 
ness  of  the  other  senses.     When  they  come  to   a  street- 


64  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

crossing  they  feel  the  movement  of  the  air  from  the  cross- 
street  even  though  no  wind  be  blowing.  A  blind  man  tells 
me  that  he  knows  when  he  is  passing  a  tree  or  a  post  by 
the  subtle  current  of  air  that  he  perceives.  A  deaf  senator 
was  able  to  comprehend  the  work  of  his  legislative  body 
and  fully  hold  his  own  with  his  colleagues  in  point  of  use- 
fulness, because  of  his  watchfulness  and  because  he  kept 
his  eyes  open. 

The  idea  of  resistance  can  be  obtained  only  through  the 
touch.  Is  an  object  soft  or  hard,  heavy  or  light,  touch 
alone  can  give  information  of  that  fact.  The  most  vivid 
description  of  the  pain  of  a  burn  can  never  give  the  faintest 
idea  of  it.  An  instant's  touch  of  the  heated  surface  conveys 
the  knowledge  at  once  and  emphatically. 

The  object  of  the  foregoing  discussion  is  to  show  that 
through  the  senses  the  estrangement  is  removed,  the  knowl- 
edge gained.  The  more  knowledge  possessed,  the  easier 
the  acquirement  of  further  knowledge  becomes.  And  so 
the  child,  starting  with  nothing,  gradually  and  rapidly  gains 
a  store  of  knowledge  and  adds  to  it  as  long  as  life  and 
intelligence  last.  There  is  no  limit  to  his  possibilities 
except  in  his  own  capacity.  The  whole  world  is  before  him, 
and  it  is  his  privilege  to  go  forth  and  overcome  it.  The 
gaining  of  such  mastery  is  education,  and  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  teacher  to  bring  to  the  child  the  right  material,  at  the , 
right  time,  in  the  right  way. 

Choice  of  Material.  —  Great  care  must  be  exercised  in 
the  gaining  of  knowledge  as  to  choice  of  material.  New 
ideas  are  gained  with  difficulty  when  they  are  utterly  strange, 
and  with  comparative  ease  when  the  mind  is  already  in 


THE  GAINING  OF  KNOWLEDGE  65 

possession  of  related  ideas.  A  few  illustrations  will  illumi- 
nate the  point.  A  troop  of  American  Indians  connected 
with  a  show,  wandered  through  the  streets  of  Paris  with 
stoic  indifference  to  the  artistically  decorated  shop  win- 
dows, the  works  of  art,  the  fine  buildings,  the  monuments  — 
the  wonders  of  that  beautiful  city.  These  works  of  civil- 
ization and  aesthetic  taste  are  far  beyond  their  compre- 
hension, so  far  that  they  fail  to  make  an  impression.  A 
brilliantly  colored  blanket  appeals  to  them  more  than  the 
noblest  Duchesse  lace,  a  rude  household  implement  more 
than  a  Glacen^  vase,  a  string  of  gaudy  beads  more  than  a 
resplendent  jewel.  Where  a  civiHzed  person  would  view 
with  delight  the  marvels  of  taste  and  beauty,  the  savage 
passes  on  utterly  oblivious.  The  works  of  art,  the  exquisite 
beauty  of  architecture,  the  wonderful  fountains,  the  mar- 
velous exhibitions  of  the  highest  art  of  man  that  make  the 
French  capital  so  attractive,  are  entirely  beyond  the  Indian's 
comprehension.  He  must  pass  through  some  centuries  of 
civilization  before  he  is  able  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  these 
things  and  appreciate  them. 

A  few  years  ago  at  considerable  expense,  the  United 
States  government  brought  several  hundred  teachers  from 
Cuba  to  one  of  our  great  universities,  provided  lecturers 
and  gave  them  instructions  in  the  art  of  teaching. 
Those  most  intimately  acquainted  with  the  enterprise, 
express  the  belief,  that  so  far  as  the  definite  purpose 
was  concerned,  these  young  people  were  but  little 
benefited.  They  were  not  ready  for  so  much  that  was  new 
and  strange,  however  elementary  the  pedagogical  material 
presented;  it  was  beyond  them.  Doubtless  the  enterprise 
was  well  worth  the  expense,  for  these  earnest  young  persons 


66  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGV 

necessarily  picked  up  a  great  deal  of  valuable  information 
as  to  the  customs  of  the  land;  but  from  a  professional 
standpoint,  they  learned  very  little  of  the  science  and  art 
of  teaching.  Even  in  this  respect,  they  learned  far  less 
than  would  have  been  possible  had  they  been  well  prepared 
to  receive  the  new  ideas. 

Goethe  described  his  own  life  and  characteristics  in 
these  words: 

"  Vom  Vater  hab'ich  die  Statur, 
Des  Lebens  ernstes  Fuhren 
Vom  Miitterchen  die  froh  Natur, 
Die  Lust  zu  Fabuliren.'' 

To  one  unfamiliar  with  the  German  language,  at  first  sight 
there  is  nothing  in  this  stanza  that  conveys  intelligence.  But 
upon  a  closer  examination  of  the  lines,  light  gradually  begins 
to  break  in.  For  example,  take  the  first  line,  the  words 
''Vater,"  "hab',"  and  ''Statur,"  will  not  be  difficult  to 
translate  because  of  their  similarity  with  the  English  words, 
"father,"  "have,"  and  "stature."  It  will  now  be  easy  to 
translate  the  line  as  follows:  "From  my  father  I  have  my 
stature,"  or  freer,  "I  am  like  my  father  in  stature,"  or  "I 
inherit  my  stature  from  my  father."  The  second  line  is 
more  difficult  because  it  lacks  words  that  furnish  a  hint  to 
the  English  student,  the  only  word  being  "ernstes,"  earnest. 
But  the  clue  is  given  in  the  first  Hne,  which  speaks  of 
qualities  inherited  from  the  father,  and  it  would  not  there- 
fore be  difficult  to  conclude  that  the  second  line  continues 
to  speak  of  these  qualities,  and  alludes  to  the  earnest  or 
serious  side  of  the  poet's  character,  also  inherited  from  the 
paternal  side.     We  have,  then,  "Life's  earnest  strivings," 


THE  GAINING  OF  KNOWLEDGE  67 

or,  "The  tendency  to  take  life  seriously," — a  tendency 
that  was  not  very  prominent  in  Goethe's  character. 

In  the  third  line  again  we  have  "Miitterchen"  and 
**Natur, "  which  are  easily  comprehended  as  "Mother," 
and  "Nature."  It  is  hardly  expected  that  the  casual 
reader  will  understand  the  sweet  endearment  compassed 
in  the  diminutive  form  of  "Mutter,"  rendered  "Mutter- 
chen,"  which  touches  the  German  heart  with  so  much 
tenderness  and  love,  and  which,  of  course,  every  child 
understands.  The  word  "mother"  wUl  have  to  suffice  in 
English.  Now  a  knowledge  of  Goethe's  character  will  aid 
in  understanding  that  from  his  mother  he  must  get  the 
other  side  of  his  character,  that  of  vivacity,  of  joyousness, 
of  good  fellowship,  which  predominated.  The  word  "froh" 
thus  becomes  intelligible,  not  through  the  medium  of  lan- 
guage, but  through  a  knowledge  of  Goethe's  real  character. 
We  have,  then,  "From  my  mother  (dearest),  my  joyous 
nature." 

The  fourth  line  furnishes  no  word  that  helps  us,  unless  it 
be  "Fabuliren"  from  its  likeness  to  our  word  "fable." 
Our  process  of  inductive  reasoning,  together  with  a  knowl- 
edge of  Goethe's  poetic  genius,  once  more  comes  to  our 
assistance.  In  the  first  two  Hnes  he  tells  us  what  his  father 
bequeathed  to  him;  is  it  not  likely  that  in  the  last  two  he 
tells  us  of  his  inheritance  from  his  mother?  We  know  that 
he  possessed  great  poetic  genius,  and  a  remarkable  power 
of  phantasy.  It  ought  not  to  be  difficult  to  infer  that  the 
last  line  means,  "The  love  of  phantasy,"  or  "The  power 
of  poetic  expression."  The  whole  verse  freely  translated 
would  express  about  the  following  thoughts: 


68  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

From  father  I  my  stature  bear, 
My  strength  for  serious  striving  ; 

From  mother  dear  the  nature  fair, 
The  fiction  gift  deriving. 

Now  success  in  interpreting  this  stanza  without  a  knowl- 
edge of  German,  depends  upon  previous  knowledge  of 
English,  upon  acquaintance  with  the  life  of  Goethe,  and 
upon  the  power  of  inductive  reasoning.  If  either  of  these 
be  lacking,  the  meaning  will  remain  obscure.  This  serves 
to  make  clear  the  point  under  discussion,  namely,  that 
new  ideas  will  be  acquired  easily  or  with  difficulty,  just  in 
proportion  to  the  newness  or  strangeness  of  the  material 
presented.  It  will  thus  readily  appear  that  he  who  knows 
several  languages  easily  acquires  a  new  one  because  of 
the  similarity  of  words  in  different  languages,  and  because 
of  the  fund  of  ideas  already  gained.  It  is  said  that  Dr. 
Schliemann,  the  great  archaeologist  and  discoverer  of 
ancient  Troy,  who  knew  some  fifty  languages  and  dia- 
lects, could  master  a  new  language  in  three  or  four  weeks. 
His  knowledge  of  many  languages  made  each  new  one  less 
strange  and,  therefore,  more  easy  of  acquirement. 

If  I  were  to  see  a  typewriter  for  the  first  time,  doubtless 
it  would  seem  to  be  a  curious  instrument.  But  having  seen 
a  piano,  its  keys  would  hint  to  me  that  it  was  something 
to  be  played  upon ;  knowing  the  alphabet,  the  presence , 
of  letters  on  the  keys  would  suggest  that  by  pressure  upon 
them  they  are  reproduced;  and  knowing  that  men  com- 
mimicate  their  thoughts  by  writing,  it  would  not  be  diffi- 
cult for  me  to  conclude  that  this  instrument  is  intended  for 
writing.  To  a  barbarian  who  had  never  seen  a  piano,  did 
not  know  any  alphabet,  and  was  unfamiliar  with  the  prac- 


THE  GAINING  OF  KNOWLEDGE  69 

tice  among  men  of  writing  to  each  other,  it  would  be  a 
profoimd  mystery.  To  the  one  man  it  easily  reveals  its 
purpose;  to  the  other  its  purpose  is  inexplicable. 

Old  Material  to  be  Utilized.  —  In  learning  new  truths 
we  utilize  the  knowledge  we  now  possess  as  an  introduction 
to  the  new,  we  call  up  whatever  we  have  that  has  any  rela- 
tion to  new  lessons  we  would  learn.  If  we  possess  nothing 
that  has  such  a  bearing,  the  acquirement  of  the  new  knowl- 
edge will  be  correspondingly  difficult.  The  bewilderment 
will  be  like  that  of  the  Indians  in  the  city  of  Paris,  or  of 
a  person  first  hearing  the  sounds  of  a  strange  tongue.  The 
sounds  will  be  mere  jargon,  without  conveying  any  mean- 
ing. But  after  a  time  when  we  know  some  words,  gradu- 
ally the  meaningless  character  disappears  as  new  words 
are  learned,  light  breaks  in  and  we  understand.  The 
most  important  pedagogical  principle  that  the  teacher  can 
apply  is,  utilize  all  the  related  old  material  that  the  pupil 
possesses  as  an  introduction  to  the  new. 

It  is  Hke  a  stranger  appearing  at  our  door  and  asking 
hospitality.  If  he  brings  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
some  friend,  or  if  he  is  able  to  establish  his  identity  through 
some  acquaintance,  we  bid  him  welcome.  The  cordiaUty 
with  which  he  is  received  will  depend  entirely  upon  the 
sympathy  of  interests  that  he  can  establish.  So  it  is  with 
new  ideas  that  present  themselves.  They  will  be  allowed 
to  enter  and  find  lodgment  when  relationship  to  those 
already  in  possession  is  discovered. 

This  process  will  be  recognized  as  what  the  Herbartian 
school  of  pedagogy  calls  apperception,     Lange  says,*  *'Man 

*  "Apperception,"  translated  by  the  Herbart  Club,  p.  i. 


70  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

enters  life  a  stranger;  he  knows  nothing  of  the  world 
that  receives  him;  it  is  to  him  a  new,  unknown  country, 
which  he  must  explore;  which  he  must  conquer.  How  is 
this  to  be  done?  Nature  assails  his  senses  with  a  thou- 
sand allurements;  she  sends  the  rays  of  light  that  she  may 
open  his  eyes  to  the  innumerable  things  of  the  outer  world, 
she  knocks  upon  the  door  of  the  human  spirit  with  excita- 
tions of  tone,  and  touch,  and  temperature,  and  all  the 
other  stimulations  of  the  sensitive  nerves,  desiring  admis- 
sion. The  soul  answers  these  stimuli  with  sensations,  with 
ideas;  it  masters  the  outer  world  by  perceiving  it." 

Again  he  says,^  *^In  order  that  a  sensation  may  arise, 
there  is,  as  a  rule,  a  fusion  or  union  of  its  content  with 
similar  ideas  and  feelings.  With  the  assistance  of  the 
latter,  the  sensation  is  held  in  consciousness,  elevated  into 
greater  clearness,  properly  related  to  the  remaining  fields 
of  thought,  and  so  is  truly  assimilated.  We  call  this  second 
act  in  distinction  from  that  of  simple  perception  or  the 
reception  of  a  sensation,  apperception,  or  mental  assimila- 
tion. This  is  a  psychical  process  which  has  a  validity  be- 
yond mere  subjective  perception,  and  is  of  great  signifi- 
cance for  all  knowledge,  yes,  even  for  our  whole  spiritual 
life.'' 

In  support  of  the  subject  under  discussion,  we  quote 
again  from  Lange;^  *' What  is  entirely  new  and  can  find 
no  point  of  connection  is  either  not  understood  or  only 
superficially  apprehended.  On  the  other  hand,  the  best 
instruction  is  given  when  the  words  of  the  teacher  stir  the 
inmost  thoughts  of  the  child,  so  that  he  is  not  passive,  but 
wholly  active.  And  so  it  remains  true,  as  we  have  already 
^  "Apperception,"  p.  5.  '  "/WJ.,"  p.  105. 


THE  GAINING  OF  KNOWLEDGE 


71 


seen,  that  the  most  eminent  characteristic  of  learning  is 
not  to  be  denominated  passivity,  but  activity,  that  all 
learning  is  apperceiving. 

"Accordingly  it  cannot  be  the  duty  of  the  teacher  simply 
to  transmit  to  the  pupil  the  material  of  knowledge,  or  to 
communicate  to  him  ideas,  feelings,  and  sentiments,  but 
to  awaken,  stimulate,  and  give  life  to  mental  activities. 
He  has  to  reach  down  with  regulative  hand  into  those 
quiet  private  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  child  in  which 
lie  his  ego  and  his  whole  future,  that  they  may  rise  above 
the  threshold  of  consciousness  and  communicate  under- 
standing, clearness,  warmth,  and  Hfe  to  instruction.  In 
a  word,  he  has  to  make  provision  that  in  every  case  the 
process  of  apperception  is  accomplished  with  as  much 
thoroughness  as  certainty  and  judgment.  Then  not  only 
will  the  matter  taught  be  mechanically  acquired,  but  it 
will  be  transformed  at  once  into  mental  power;  it  will  con- 
tribute steadily,  by  awakening  thought  and  interest,  to 
lift  and  ennoble  the  mental  life." 

McMurry  remarks,^  ''Apperception  may  be  roughly 
defined  at  first  as  the  process  of  acquiring  new  ideas  by  the 
aid  of  old  ones  already  in  mind.  It  makes  the  acquisition 
of  new  knowledge  easier  and  quicker.  Not  that  there  is  any 
easy  road  to  learning,  but  there  is  a  natural  process  which 
greatly  accelerates  the  progress  of  acquisition,  just  as  it  is 
better  to  follow  a  highway  over  a  rough  country  than  to 
betake  one's  self  to  the  stumps  and  brush.  .  .  .  One  may 
perceive  a  new  object  without  understanding  it,  but  to 
apperceive  it  is  to  interpret  its  meaning  by  the  aid  of  similar 
familiar  notions.'' 

*  "General  Method,"  p.  257. 


7^  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOG"^ 

The  Work  of  the  Teacher  m  the  Process  of  Gaining 
Knowledge.  —  It  now  remains  for  us  to  consider  the  part 
that  the  teacher  must  take  in  the  cultivation  of  the  percep- 
tive and  the  apperceptive  powers.  In  a  word,  what  is  the 
pedagogical  application  of  the  lessons  this  subject  teaches  ? 
Perceptions  are  gained  through  the  senses,  and  not  only 
must  the  objects  be  brought  within  the  range  of  the  respec- 
tive senses,  but  the  child  must  be  taught  to  observe  accu- 
rately. Many  have  **Eyes  that  see  not,"  "Ears  that  hear 
not,''  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  teacher  to  inculcate  in  his 
pupils  the  habit  of  correctly  using  the  senses.  Pestalozzi's 
great  service  to  the  world  lay  in  this  direction.  He  made 
instruction  not  mere  formal  drudgery,  but  a  living  and  in- 
teresting process.  He  transformed  the  school  from  a  dreary 
prison  house  to  which  the  children  had  to  be  driven,  into  a 
place  of  delight,  and  he  did  this  by  bringing  his  pupils  into 
contact  with  things,  by  studying  their  real  needs,  their 
interests,  and  their  natural  development,  and  by  making  the 
school  bright  and  interesting.  Every  teacher,  especially  of 
yoimg  children,  must  follow  his  example,  giving  chief  atten- 
tion to  the  training  of  the  perceptive  faculties. 

Rosmini  gives  some  very  valuable  suggestions  as  to  train- 
ing the  perceptions.^  "The  child  should  be  provided  in 
abundance  with  objects  to  look  at,  touch,  examine,  and 
experiment  upon  —  in  a  word,  to  perceive,  and  perceive 
more  and  more  accurately.  The  objects  chosen  should  be 
those  which  most  attract  his  attention,  which  will  also  be 
those  which  satisfy  his  wants,  his  desires,  and  give  him 
pleasure;  for  it  is  only  by  these  that  his  attention  is  aroused. 

"It  will  be  found  useful  also  to  present  him  simple 

'  "Method  in  Education,"  p.  82. 


THE    GAINING  OF  KNOWLEDGE  73 

objects  in  the  following  order  —  for  example,  the  seven 
colors  of  the  rays  of  light,  one  after  the  other;  also  white  and 
black;  and,  still  better,  the  harmonic  scale  of  colors,  the 
succession  of  which  will  delight  him.  Let  him  hear,  in  the 
same  way,  the  seven  primary  notes,  first  in  succession,  then 
by  degrees  in  their  harmonic  intervals  and  chords;  then 
give  him  solids  to  play  with,  to  the  proportions  of  which,  in 
form  and  measurement,  his  eye  and  hand  may  become 
accustomed,  at  the  same  time  that  they  impress  themselves 
on  his  imagination.  Later  on,  but  not  till  much  later,  the 
child  may  be  familiarized  with  more  colors,  more  sounds, 
more  forms  harmoniously  combined,  but  always  by  degrees, 
and  never  passing  on  to  a  new  play  till  he  shows  weariness 
of  the  old.  It  must  be  evident  that,  besides  other  advan- 
tages, the  reception  of  so  many  well-ordered  images  into 
his  mind  will  both  provide  fitting  material  for  his  future 
reflection,  and  facilitate  the  intellectual  operations  he  will 
soon  be  called  upon  to  undertake,  not  to  mention  that  his 
mind  itself  perceives  a  precious  moral  benefit  from  insen- 
sibly conforming  itself  to  order,  and  being  trained  to  a 
feeling  of  beauty." 

How  Much  to  Give.  —  The  amount  of  material  that  the 
teacher  should  give  his  pupils  is  always  a  puzzling  question 
requiring  wisdom,  judgment,  a  knowledge  of  children,  and 
pedagogic  insight.  There  must  be  a  sufficient  amount  to 
keep  the  pupils  stimulated  and  active  on  the  one  hand,  and 
not  enough  to  discourage  or  fail  to  obtain  a  thorough 
mastery  of  the  material  on  the  other  hand.  Upon  this  point 
I  quote  again  from  Rosmini :  ^  '^  It  may  be  laid  down  in  gen- 

*  "Method  in  Education,"  p.  128. 


74  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

eral,  that  the  positive  portion  of  intellectual  and  moral 
education  should  be  least  in  the  earliest  period  of  infancy, 
and  go  on  enlarging  with  each  successive  period;  but  what 
is  the  law  which  governs  this  continued  extension?  In  a 
word,  what  are  its  limits  in  each  period?  The  answer  to 
these  questions  must  be  arrived  at  by  manifold  experi- 
ments and  observations  —  which  are  now,  thank  Heaven! 
beginning  to  be  made  —  and  it  is  high  time  that  the  art  of 
experiment  and  observation  should  be  applied  to  educa- 
tion." 

It  was  nearly  half  a  century  before  this  fertile  suggestion 
of  the  great  Italian  thinker  was  seriously  carried  out. 
The  child  study  movement  of  recent  years  is  seeking  to 
solve  this  very  problem,  and  it  has  already  contributed 
valuable  data  towards  its  solution. 

The  Apperceptive  Process.^  —  The  pedagogical  require- 
ments in  respect  to  apperception  are  more  difficult  to  meet 
than  those  of  perception,  and  they  are  of  even  greater 
importance,  for,  unless  the  apperceptive  process  is  fulfilled 
there  can  be  no  complete  education.  Lange  indicates 
three  features  to  be  observed  in  the  treatment  of  appercep- 
tion, as  follows: 

1.  With  reference  to  the  objects  of  apperception. 
(Choice  and  arrangement  of  the  material  of  instruction.) 

2.  With  reference  to  the  subject  apperceiving.  (Inves- 
tigation, enlargement,  and  utilization  of  the  child's  store  of 
experience.) 

*  In  the  discussion  which  follows,  I  shall  be  guided  somewhat  by  Lange 's 
treatment  of  this  subject,  and  even  where  direct  quotations  are  not  made, 
I  desire  to  acknowledge  full  credit  to  that  author. 


THE  GAINING  OF  KNOWLEDGE  7 J 

3.  Proper  union  of  the  factors  of  apperception  in  learn- 
ing.    (The  process  of  teaching.) 

Taking  the  topics  in  order  we  will  study  their  meaning, 
and  endeavor  to  discover  the  practical,  pedagogical  lessons 
they  teach. 

I.  The  objects  of  apperception,  or  the  choice  and  arrange- 
ment of  material,  —  A  great  deal  of  thought  has  been  de- 
voted to  the  answer  of  this  question,  which  has  been  ex- 
pressed in  the  course  of  study,  as  we  have  seen  elsewhere. 
(Chapter  V.)  We  have  first  the  ^* Seven  liberal  arts"  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  first  crude  attempt  to  arrange  the 
material  of  instruction ;  then  the  elaborate  system  of  Sturm, 
which  Professor  Williams  pronounces  to  be  the  *^very 
earliest  scheme  that  we  have,  looking  to  an  extended,  sys- 
tematic, well-articulated  course  of  studies  for  a  school  of 
several  teachers,  in  which  is  assigned  to  each  class  such 
portions  af  the  subject-matter  of  the  course  of  instruction 
as  is  suited  to  the  age  and  stage  of  advancement  of  its 
pupils;"  then  the  Ratio  Studiorum  of  the  Jesuits,  laying 
stress  upon  the  humanities  and  theology;  and,  finally,  the 
courses  which  represent  most  modern  ideas. 

The  Herbartian  school  answers  the  question  as  to 
material  in  what  is  known  as  the  "  Culture  Epochs  Theory." 
This  theory  holds  that  every  child  passes  through  the  same 
periods  of  development  that  the  race  has  passed  through, 
and,  therefore,  the  material  to  be  selected  for  any  given 
period  of  the  child's  development  must  be  drawn  largely 
from  the  corresponding  epoch  of  racial  development.  Ziller, 
a  disciple  of  Herbart,  who  first  promulgated  this  theory, 
says,  "The  mental  development  of  the  child  corresponds 


70  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

in  general  to  the  chief  phases  in  the  development  of  his 
people  or  of  mankind.  The  mind-development  of  the 
child,  therefore,  cannot  be  better  furthered  than  when  he 
receives  his  mental  nourishment  from  the  general  develop- 
ment of  culture  as  it  is  laid  down  in  literature  and  history. 
Every  pupil  should,  accordingly,  pass  successively  through 
each  of  the  chief  epochs  of  the  general  mental  development 
of  mankind  suitable  to  his  stage  of  advancement." 

It  should  be  mentioned  that  this  theory  is  not  exclusively 
Herbartian.  Rosmini,^  independently  of  the  German  school 
says,  "History  shows  the  same  epochs  in  the  individual 
as  in  the  whole  human  race.  The  infant  begins  by  believ- 
ing everything,  just  as  in  early  forms  of  civilization  men 
are  credulous."  Professor  J.  Mark  Baldwin  remarks,  "The 
infant  is  an  embryo  person,  a  social  unit  in  the  process  of 
forming;  and  he  is,  in  these  early  stages,  plainly  recapitu- 
lating the  items  in  the  soul  history  of  the  race." 

Based  upon  this  theory,  Ziller  planned  the  centers  for 
the  course  in  the  eight  years  of  the  German  "Volkschule" 
as  follows:  i.  The  epic  folklore  stories;  2.  Robinson 
Crusoe;  3.  History  of  the  Biblical  patriarchs;  4.  The 
judges  of  Israel  ;  5.  The  kings  of  Israel;  6.  The  life  of 
Jesus;  7.  Apostolic  history;  8.  The  Reformation.  He 
teaches  that  in  these  thought  wholes  of  material  the  pupil 
traverses,  "Corresponding  to  his  own  development,  •  the 
chief  periods  in  the  development  of  mankind."  Van  Liew 
thinks  that  Ziller  draws  the  line  too  sharply.  He  says,^ 
"These  epochs,  the  characterization  of  which  must  ever 

^  It  will  be  remembered  that  Rosmini  was  an  Italian  writer  who  prob- 
ably was  not  acquainted  with  Herbart's  writings.  His  book  was  written 
in  1839,  a  longtime  before  Ziller  promulgated  the  "  Culture  Epochs  Theory." 

'  The  First  Year  Book  of  the  Herbartian  Society,  p.  89. 


THE  GAINING  OF  KNOWLEDGE  77 

remain  general  in  nature,  so  far  as  educational  needs  are 
concerned,  cannot  be  held  to  too  narrow  and  definite  time 
limitations;  this  follows  from  the  very  conception  of  devel- 
opment. They  must  be  given  freedom  and  breadth, 
allowed  to  overlap  and  to  lose  their  boundary  lines  in  one 
another." 

While  the  ''Culture  Epochs  Theory"  may  be  valuable 
in  suggesting  material  for  the  study  of  history  and  litera- 
ture, to  apply  it  in  all  the  subjects  of  the  school  course 
necessitates  the  bending  of  the  course  to  meet  the  theory, 
rather  than  utilizing  the  theory  in  the  formation  of  a  course 
of  study.  In  literature,  the  myths,  fairy-tales,  stories  from 
the  Bible,  or  from  Homer,  accounts  of  deeds  of  chivalry,  as 
well  as  the  various  kinds  of  modern  literature,  furnish  most 
suggestive  and  suitable  material  for  children  of  all  ages.  In 
history,  too,  though  perhaps  in  a  less  marked  degree,  the 
same  is  true.  But  in  other  subjects,  such  as  arithmetic, 
science,  art,  etc.,  the  theory  offers  nothing  of  value.  More- 
over, the  process  of  development  in  the  child  is  more  rapid 
correspondingly  than  that  of  the  race.  The  primitive 
forms  of  manufacture  employed  by  the  race,  even  less  than 
a  century  ago,  have  been  supplanted  by  improved  ma- 
chinery made  necessary  by  harnessing  the  forces  of  steam, 
electricity,  and  the  air.  There  is  no  longer  any  need  of 
employing  the  crude  handiwork  formerly  in  use,  and  it  is, 
therefore,  folly  to  carry  the  pupils  through  all  the  stages 
of  slow  development  throughout  the  earlier  centuries.  The 
''Culture  Epochs  Theory,"  therefore,  does  not  furnish  a 
solution  of  the  question  as  to  choice  of  material,  though  it 
is  suggestive  in  certain  fields.  The  materials  chosen  must 
be  suited  to  the  three  well-defined  epochs  in  the  child's 


78  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

development,  namely,  the  intuitive,  the  imaginative,  and 
the  logical,  and  the  method  of  presentation  likewise  must 
follow  these  natural  periods  of  development.  To  divide 
the  child's  life  into  eight  or  more  periods,  corresponding 
with  the  eight  elementary  school  years,  is  an  arbitrary  and 
superficial  discrimination/ 

2.  The  subject  ap perceiving,  or  the  child  and  his  store 
of  experience.  —  Lange  says,^  ^'The  teacher  must  see  to  it 
that  the  pupil  holds  in  readiness  numerous  similar,  strong, 
and  well-arranged  ideas,  for  the  new  material  that  instruc- 
tion is  to  bring  to  the  understanding."  From  the  very 
nature  of  things  the  teacher  must  be  acquainted  with  the 
child-mind,  its  activities,  its  manner  of  unfolding,  its  needs. 
He  must  know  how  to  discover  what  the  child  really  knows, 
what  he  brings  with  him  when  he  enters  the  class.  Citing 
Lange  again,  ^*It  is  certain  that  the  child  brings  to  school 
in  the  numerous,  important,  and  strong  ideas,  feelings  and 
inclinations  acquired  in  youth,  at  the  same  time  the  best 
and  most  vivid  helps  to  apperception  in  the  recitation. 
But  the  content  and  extent  of  these  are  nowhere  entirely 
the  same,  and  in  many  pupils  often  differ  strikingly  from 
one  another." 

Investigations  have  been  undertaken  in  recent  years  for 
the  purpose  of  discovering  the  content  of  the  child's  mind 
at  any  given  period.  Many  of  these  have  been  futile  and 
valueless;  but  some  have  added  materially  to  the  pedago- 
gical knowledge  of  the  subject,  and  further  investigations 
in  this  field  are  destined  to  do  still  greater  good.  When 
the  teacher  has  found  out  what  the  child  already  knows, 

^  See  McMurry's  "Method  of  the  Recitation,"  old  ed.,  p.  90. 
*  "Apperception,"  p.  151. 


If 

THE  GAINING  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

he  is  ready  to  build  upon  whatever  foundation  exists, 
strengthening  its  weak  points,  adding  to  and  constructing 
further  until  a  building  fitly  joined  and  complete  is  reared. 

The  child  has  picked  up  a  great  deal  of  knowledge  before 
he  comes  to  school.  The  first  duty  of  the  teacher  is  to 
find  out  what  experiences  the  child  already  possesses,  and 
then  proceed  slowly  and  surely  to  make  him  familiar  with 
the  vast  field  with  which  he  is  eager  to  become  acquainted. 
The  child  has  thus  far  been  influenced  entirely  by 
his  environment.  He  has  seen  many  objects,  or  possibly 
pictures  of  objects  in  the  marvelous  picture  books  for 
children,  and  has  become  somewhat  familiar  with  the 
objects  represented.  I  knew  a  boy  three  years  of  age, 
that  could  call  the  names  of  forty  or  more  animals  from  a 
picture  book  that  he  possessed.  The  child's  knowledge  will 
best  be  enlarged  by  showing  him  familiar  things,  telling  him 
all  about  them,  and  then  gradually  proceeding  to  new  things. 
Thus  he  begins  geography  by  studying  the  schoolroom, 
the  schoolyard,  the  brook,  the  hills,  the  immediate  environ- 
ment. Nature  is  studied  at  first  hand  by  going  out  into 
the  fields,  picking  the  flowers,  watching  the  birds,  observ- 
ing insects,  studying  the  things  themselves. 

A  group  of  boys  from  twelve  to  fourteen  years  of  age 
were  taken  to  the  village  of  Mohra  in  Thuringia,  where 
Luther's  parents  lived  previous  to  his  birth.  A  monument 
stands  near  the  house  in  which  they  lived,  having  various 
inscriptions  on  each  side  of  the  shaft.  After  examining 
the  monument  on  all  sides,  the  teacher  gathered  them  to 
one  side,  and  questioned  them  as  to  what  was  inscribed 
thereon.  So  well  had  these  boys  been  taught  to  observe, 
that  every  one  of  them  could  tell  the  somewhat  lengthy 


8o  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

inscriptions  on  each  of  the  four  sides.  They  had  been 
trained  to  see  and  fix  in  memory  what  they  saw.  German 
and  French  teachers  often  take  their  pupils  on  excursions, 
not  merely  for  an  outing,  but  for  the  purpose  of  instructing 
them  in  matters  that  could  not  be  learned  in  the  schoolroom. 
In  company  with  Professor  Stoy,  about  fifty  boys,  and  some 
teachers  and  students,  I  once  visited  the  great  battle-field 
of  Jena  where  Napoleon  gained  a  signal  victory  over  the 
Prussians  and  reduced  their  kingdom  to  a  mere  tributary 
country.  By  a  careful  study  of  the  history  of  that  period, 
the  boys  had  been  prepared  for  the  lesson  of  the  day.  The 
respective  positions  of  the  French  and  the  Prussians  were 
pointed  out,  the  movements  of  each  army  indicated,  and 
the  details  of  that  great,  decisive  battle  outlined.  Every 
boy  gained  an  insight  into  the  history  of  his  country,  and 
an  understanding  of  one  of  its  most  important  events  such 
as  never  could  have  been  obtained  from  books.  This 
same  idea  could  be  carried  out,  even  if  no  great  battle-field 
is  close  at  hand,  in  connection  with  the  ordinary  things  of 
life,  and  the  lessons  can  be  made  vivid,  impressive,  and 
lasting.  Material  gathered  in  this  way  will  furnish  abun- 
dant topics  for  composition,  for  the  child  loves  to  tell  with 
tongue  or  pen  what  he  knows. 

A  like  course  can  be  pursued  with  arithmetic  and  other 
subjects  of  the  school  course.  Through  the  use  of  objects 
the  knowledge  already  possessed  can  be  utilized  and  made 
to  lead  directly  to  new  knowledge. 

In  the  words  of  Lange,^  "We  are  at  the  end  of  our  answer 
to  the  question.  What  can  the  teacher  do  for  the  subject  of 
apperception?      How  can    he   provide  for  his  instruction 

^  "Apperception,**  p.  199. 


THE  GAINING  OF  KNOWLEDGE  8l 

sufficient  apperceiving  ideas  in  the  consciousness  of  the 
pupil?  We  found  that  it  was  his  duty  to  gain  a  definite 
view  into  the  pupils'  range  of  thought,  especially  in  the  ex- 
tremely important  experience  that  they  have  acquired 
previous  to  all  instruction,  to  brighten  and  deepen  this  and 
to  enlarge  it  through  suitable  home  instruction.  We 
emphasized  further  that  he  must,  in  the  most  careful  man- 
ner, join  all  his  instruction  to  the  acquired  experience  of 
the  pupils  in  many  ways,  especially  through  advancing 
instruction." 

3.  The  union  of  the  subject  and  the  object  of  appercep- 
tion, or  the  process  of  teaching.  —  Great  stress  should  be 
laid  upon  the  process  of  instruction.  This  is  so  important 
that  another  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  it.  Rosmini  offers 
some  excellent  suggestions  as  to  errors  in  instruction  with 
which  this  chapter  will  close.^     They  are  as  follows : 

(a.)  "Sometimes  the  intellectual  activity  of  the  child  be- 
comes annoying  and  troublesome,  and  an  attempt  is  made 
to  repress  it  by  authority,  refusing  it  sufficient  food. 

(6.)  "  Sometimes  the  material  memory  of  the  child  is  bur- 
dened, while  its  intelligence  is  left  to  starve  —  which  is 
not  only  a  most  serious  injury  to  the  little,  intelligent  crea- 
ture, who  craves  only  to  understand,  but  also  cruel  and 
inhuman. 

{c.)  "Sometimes  it  is  given  food  not  adapted  to  it;  in 
other  words,  it  is  called  upon  to  perform  acts  of  a  higher 
order  than  it  has  yet  attained  to  —  in  which  case,  to  under- 
stand anything  beyond  mere  words  is  an  absolute  impos- 

*  "Method  in  Education,"  p.  112. 


82  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

sibility.  Sometimes  the  cognitions  required  of  it  are  not 
beyond  its  powers,  but  the  intellectual  attention  lacks  the 
necessary  stimulus  to  make  the  effort  to  attain  them. 

(d.)  *' Finally,  even  when  the  cognitions  required  of  the 
childish  intelligence  are  proposed  to  it  in  their  order,  and 
accompanied  by  the  appropriate  stimuli,  there  is  failure, 
because  the  teacher  passes  from  one  thing  to  another,  with- 
out having  assured  himself  that  the  first  thing  was  duly 
understood,  and  that  the  child  is  really  following  the  suc- 
cessive steps  of  the  teaching;  in  other  words,  he  does  not 
give  the  child  time  to  take  in  matter,  to  master  it,  and  to 
recover  from  a  kind  of  surprise  which  every  new  idea  pro- 
duces in  him." 

Sumfnary 

I.  The  child  first  gains  knowledge  through  the  senses. 
These  should  be  carefully  and  systematically  trained  in  order 
that  the  perceptions  may  be  vivid  and  accurate. 

II.  The  material  chosen  should  be  suited  to  the  stage  of 
development  of  the  child.  NtW  knowledge  should  be  based 
upon  the  old  —  proceed  from  the  known  to  the  unknown. 
The  ease  with  which  new  ideas  are  gain  d  will  depend  upon 
their  newness  or  strangeness.  The  success  of  th  apper- 
ceptive process  depends  upon  the  thorough  harmony  into 
which  the  new  is  brought  with  the  old.  Unless  knowledge 
is  apperceived  it  is  lost  and  useless  —  it  is  not  gained. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   PROCESS   OF   EDUCATION 

References.  —  McMurry,  The  Method  of  the  Recitation;  Mor- 
gariy  Studies  in  Pedagogy;  Prince,  Courses  of  Studies  and  Methods 
of  Teaching;  White,  The  Art  of  Teaching;  Fitch,  Lectures  on 
Teaching;  Lange,  Apperception;  De  Garmo,  Essentials  of  Method. 

Real  Purpose  of  the  School.  —  The  object  for  which  the 
school  is  maintained  is  not  the  mere  keeping  of  the  children 
out  of  the  street  for  a  given  number  of  hours  per  day;  not 
the  preserving  of  order  and  the  maintaining  of  decent  control, 
though  these  are  essential  in  every  school;  it  is  not  to  relieve 
the  home  of  the  care  and  training  of  its  young,  and  to  furnish 
a  place  of  safety  for  them  while  parents  attend  to  other 
duties;  not  even  to  fill  their  minds  with  a  mass  of  knowledge; 
it  is  to  form  habits  through  proper  discipline,  to  impart 
knowledge,  to  build  character,  and  the  principal  medium 
through  which  this  is  accomplished  is  instruction.  The 
teacher  is  in  possession  of  material  which  is  to  be  trans- 
mitted to  his  pupils.  The  method  by  which  this  is  accom- 
pHshed  should  be  sound,  and  the  manner  of  carrying  out  that 
method  skilful.  Hence  the  necessity  of  trained  teachers, 
prepared  most  carefully  and  thoroughly.  As  has  been 
shown  elsewhere  (p.  259),  the  purpose  of  instruction  is 
to  cancel  the  difference  between  the  teacher  and  the  pupil. 
It  follows  that  the  better  equipped  the  teacher,  both  as  to 
material  and  method,  the  more  hope  for  the  pupil,  and  the 
greater  his  advantages. 

In  the  foregoing  chapter  we  indicated  the  third  step  in 

83 


84  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

the  pedagogical  requirements  with  reference  to  appercep- 
tion, to  be  the  process  of  bringing  the  object  of  apperception, 
that  is,  the  subject-matter,  to  the  consciousness  of  the 
child.  The  Herbartians  have  given  many  valuable  sugges- 
tions as  to  this  process  in  their  formal  steps  of  the  recitation 
(Formalstufen).  Lange  says,*  '* The  process  of  appercep- 
tion does  not  by  any  means  properly  develop  itself  in  the 
child;  experience  teaches  rather,  that  even  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances  when  the  child  is  offered  the 
material  of  instruction  for  which  it  already  possesses 
numerous  apperceiving  ideas,  the  connection  of  the  old 
with  the  new  not  infrequently  fails  to  be  made.  This  is 
the  case,  if  the  consciousness  of  the  pupil  during  the  instruc- 
tion is  either  filled  with  foreign  thoughts  and  feelings  which 
do  not  permit  the  apperception  helps  to  arise;  or  if  the 
latter  lacks  the  requisite  strength  and  clearness,  the  neces- 
sary order  and  completeness,  and  therefore  power,  to  grasp 
apperceivingly  the  ideas  called  forth  by  instruction.  Hence, 
it  does  not  suffice  that  the  learner  possesses  apperception 
aids  for  the  new;  they  must  also  be  at  his  disposal  with  the 
greatest  clearness  at  the  right  time  and  place.  They  must 
likewise,  in  the  moment  of  learning,  stand  at  the  threshold 
of  consciousness  to  present  to  the  new  all  related  elements, 
and  so  to  grasp  the  new  knowledge  as  to  prepare  for  it  the 
right  mood  and  correct  understanding."  In  other  words, 
the  new  material  must  be  withheld  until  the  child  has  been 
prepared  to  receive  it.  This  brings  us  to  the  discussion  of 
the  first  of  the  formal  steps. 

I .    Preparation.  —  The  teacher  meets  his  class  with  new 
truth  and  new  material  which  he  is  prepared  to  give  to  them. 

^  "Apperception,"  p.  200. 


THE   PROCESS   OF   EDUCATION  85 

He  is  thorough  master  of  his  subject  as  well  as  of  the 
method  of  presenting  it.  But  he  must  first  be  assured  that 
his  pupils  also  are  ready.  It  is  not  enough  that  they  sit 
erect,  faces  to  the  front,  bodies  still,  and  with  the  air  of 
attention.  While  these  are  essential,  they  are  mere  exter- 
nalities or  mechanical  requirements.  The  knowledge 
already  possessed,  which  has  a  bearing  upon  the  theme  to 
be  treated,  must  be  discovered  and  brought  forward. 

The  child  must  be  encouraged  to  talk  freely  about  the 
subject,  but  must  not  be  allowed  to  roam  over  the  whole 
world  as  some  children  are  inclined  to  do  if  free  range  is 
given  to  them.  They  must  be  held  to  the  theme  before  them 
and  not  allowed  to  wander  into  other  fields,  no  matter  how 
much  they  may  be  interested  in  those  fields,  or  how  much 
they  may  know  about  them.  They  must  be  taught  to  think 
of  the  matter  in  hand  and  of  nothing  else.  A  teacher  was 
presenting  the  subject  of  percentage  to  a  class  of  girls,  and 
as  a  preliminary  exercise,  he  attempted  to  find  out  what 
they  already  knew  about  it.  He  found  them  very  ready  to 
talk,  but  not  to  the  point.  One  little  miss  after  frantically 
waving  her  hand,  gained  his  attention  and  asked,  "What 
do  you  think  of  the  decline  of  the  grain  elevators  of  Minne- 
sota?'' ''What  in  the  world  has  the  grain  elevator  to  do 
with  percentage?"  queried  the  teacher.  *' I  don't  know," 
she  replied,  "  but  papa  was  talking  about  it  last  night  and  I 
wondered  what  you  thought  of  it."  Her  father  was  a 
member  of  the  Chicago  grain  exchange,  and  had  been 
discussing  the  subject  of  elevators  in  her  presence.  The 
teacher  must  know  exactly  what  he  wants  and  hold  his 
pupils  to  a  consideration  of  the  subject  in  hand  and  no 
other.     ''The  pupil  must  first  become  at  home  in  definite 


86  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

old  groups  of  thought;  he  must  pass  through  these  old 
groups  with  a  certain  warmth  and  ease  before  we  offer  him 
the  new;  he  must  feel  firm  groimd  under  his  feet  for  the 
new  mental  operations  that  instruction  exacts  from  him. 
If  the  preparatory  conversation  makes  it  apparent  that  the 
existing  apperceiving  ideas  are  too  weak  and  unsatis- 
factory, it  becomes  necessary  for  the  preparation  to  pro- 
vide what  is  lacking.''* 

From  the  outset  the  teacher  must  not  only  have  a 
clear  idea  of  what  he  intends  to  impart,  but  he  must 
transmit  that  idea  to  the  class.  The  end  to  be  sought 
should  be  cleverly  set  forth  and  the  teacher  should  repeat 
the  preparatory  exercise  times  enough,  and  should  so 
order  and  arrange  it  that  the  pupil  is  able  fully  to  compre- 
hend it.  Nothing  is  gained  by  haste;  it  pays  to  do  this 
work  thoroughly,  as  will  appear  later,  in  gaining  complete 
mastery.  "If  we  should  pass  over  the  material  but  once, 
and  in  the  order  in  which  it  would  appear  by  chance,  many 
contradictions  would  remain  unreconciled,  and  many  prin- 
cipal thoughts  not  seldom  be  lost  in  a  mass  of  incidentals. 
A  brief  summing  up,  suitable  to  the  content  of  the  ideas, 
and  a  separation  of  the  essential  from  the  unessential  is 
therefore  absolutely  necessary;  and  not  less  so,  a  sufficient 
repetition  and  impressing  of  that  which,  as  yet,  shows  itself 
uncertain  and  wavering.  When  this  is  neglected,  we  stop 
half  way,  and  apperception,  in  spite  of  the  preparation, 
cannot  be  accomphshed  with  requisite  ease."^ 

There  should  be  the  greatest  freedom  allowed  the  pupils 
in  the  discussion  of  the  material,  the  caution  already  men- 
tioned being  observed,  that  they  be  not  permitted  to  digress 
*  Lange,  p.  202.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  203. 


THE   PROCESS   OF   EDUCATION  87 

to  any  great  extent.  They  should  be  encouraged  to  talk 
freely,  telling  their  own  experiences  in  their  own  way. 
Suggestive  questions  from  the  teacher  will  guide  the  con- 
versation and  serve  to  bring  out  what  is  desired.  Lange 
shows  that  by  this  method/  "The  dullest  mind  has  time  to 
act,  and  even  the  retiring  disposition  is  encouraged  by  the 
confidential  tone  of  conversation.  No  one  should  be 
omitted  in  the  relation  of  his  experience,  and  each,  accord- 
ing to  the  measure  of  his  knowledge,  will  add  something 
to  the  new  thought-structure.  Every  one  rejoices  that  his 
own  knowledge,  which  has  heretofore  been  smuggled  in  as 
forbidden  ware  as  compared  with  the  word  of  the  teacher, 
is  recognized  and  respected,  and  each  looks  forward  to 
every  new  lesson  with  redoubled  interest.  This  condition 
of  mind  is  the  most  favorable  that  the  new  material  can 
meet;  the  apperceptive  process  is  introduced  in  the  very 
best  way  possible.'' 

Illustration.  —  It  may  be  mentioned  that  the  preparation 
of  the  lesson  which  the  child  makes  in  his  seat  or  at  home 
previous  to  his  appearance  in  class,  is  not  under  consider- 
ation. We  are  considering  his  preparation  needed  to  re- 
ceive the  instruction  that  is  to  follow.  That  such  prepara- 
tion is  essential,  a  famiUar  illustration  will  emphasize. 
The  husbandman  understands  that  if  he  is  to  secure  a 
crop  he  must  not  scatter  his  seed  aimlessly,  no  matter  how 
good  that  seed  may  be,  how  skilfully  it  may  be  deposited,  or 
how  rich  the  soil.  He  must  first  laboriously  plow,  and 
harrow,  and  work  up  the  soil  until  it  is  mellow  and  rich, 
ready  to  invite  the  fruitful  seed  to  its  bosom,  when,  under 

*  Lange,  p.  212. 


88  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

the  blessing  of  heaven,  it  will  in  due  time  yield  its  increase, 
*^some  thirty,  some  sixty,  and  some  an  hundred  fold."  No 
better  illustration  can  be  given  suggesting  a  parallel  in  the 
teacher's  work  of  instruction.  Much  of  his  sowing  goes  to 
waste  because  of  too  little  attention  being  paid  to  preparing 
his  pupils  for  the  reception  of  the  truth.  The  pupil  must  be 
prepared  to  receive  the  seed  or  much  of  it  will  fall  upon 
stony  ground  and  bear  no  fruit.  There  can  be  no  better 
expenditure  of  time  and  effort  than  in  getting  the  soil 
ready  for  the  reception  of  the  seed  of  truth,  and  that  prep- 
aration is  made  through  calling  up  the  old,  related  knowl- 
edge already  possessed  by  the  child. 

2.  Presentation,  —  With  the  interest  awakened,  the 
correlated  matter  brought  forward,  the  soil  prepared,  the 
next  step  in  instruction  is  the  presentation  of  the  new 
material.  It  is  needless  to  reiterate  that  the  teacher  should 
be  equipped  with  a  complete  mastery  of  the  subject-matter. 
In  addition  to  this,  he  should  be  acquainted  with  the 
mental  activities  of  the  child,  and  their  development, 
should  possess  skilled  judgment  and  discretion  as  to  the 
amount  of  material  to  be  given  and  the  method  of  present- 
ing it  to  the  particular  class  in  hand,  be  endowed  with  the 
faculty  of  bringing  himself  to  the  level  of  the  child's  mind, 
and  of  entering  fully  into  the  child's  sympathies.  A 
definite  aim  has  already  been  demanded  in  the  first  step, 
that  of  preparation.  The  method  of  presentation  to  be 
employed  will  depend  upon  the  stage  of  development  and 
capacity  of  the  pupils,  upon  the  subject  under  discussion, 
and  upon  the  end  sought.  A  consideration  of  different 
methods  will  follow  in  a  later  chapter. 

Great  discretion  must  be  exercised  in  giving  the  right 


THE   PROCESS    OF    EDUCATION  89 

amount  of  material.  Seed  sown  too  thick  in  a  field 
grows  a  mass  of  stalks  and  yields  but  little  harvest; 
and  the  richer  the  soil,  the  more  rank  the  growth  of  stalk, 
the  more  choked  the  crop  becomes.  The  same  holds  good 
in  the  presentation  of  material  to  children.  There  is  more 
danger  of  giving  too  much  than  too  little,  for  the  teacher 
is  apt  to  measure  his  pupils'  capacity  by  his  own.  The 
young  teacher  needs  especially  to  observe  this  caution. 
There  is  no  better  test  of  the  wisdom,  experience,  and  good 
judgment  of  the  teacher,  than  is  shown  in  this  particular 
direction.  Too  much  food  instead  of  nourishing  and 
strengthening  the  body  serves  as  a  detriment  and  a  burden, 
and  the  same  is  true  of  the  mind. 

Upon  this  point  Lange  wisely  remarks,^  "It  is  clear  that 
even  well- prepared  matter  cannot  be  thoroughly  mastered 
if  the  ideas  are  forced  too  rapidly  upon  the  consciousness 
of  the  learner,  or  if  they  are  too  weakly  and  obscurely 
presented.  The  pupil  will  not  become  master  of  the 
material  if  he  is  overwhelmed  with  too  much  at  once,  if 
the  teacher  fails  to  linger  upon  difficult  points  with  neces- 
sary stress,  if  the  material  is  not  presented  in  proper  order 
and  with  proper  clearness,  and  if  the  attention  is  not  held. 
The  more  time  given  to  the  individual  members  or  parts 
of  the  object  to  be  studied  in  order  that  it  may  unfold 
clearly  and  intelligently  to  the  consciousness  of  the  children, 
the  more  opportunity  the  pupil  has  to  appropriate  the  pre- 
sented notions  that  are  to  be  apperceived,  the  better  they 
will  be  apperceived  and  the  better  learned.  It  follows  that 
the  amount  of  material  given  must  be  measured  ty  the 
capacity  of  the  pupil,  in  order  that  neither  too  much  nor  too 
little  may  be  asked  of  him;  such  material  must  be  properly 

*  "Apperception/'  p.  213. 


go  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

connected  in  order  that  he  shall  not  receive  it  as  a  mass, 
but  rather  that  it  may  be  fixed  in  his  mind  according  to  the 
law  of  successive  clearness,  from  section  to  section,  from 
item  to  item." 

It  is  of  utmost  importance,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the 
pupils  themselves  be  allowed  to  take  part  in  the  exercise. 
This  is  especially  true  of  young  children.  Attention  can- 
not long  be  held  by  any  other  method;  besides,  through 
expressing  their  own  thoughts  and  by  hearing  other  chil- 
dren express  theirs,  they  gain  insight  into  the  new  truths 
presented.  There  must  be  a  combination  of  the  act  of 
imparting  by  the  teacher  and  reciting  by  the  pupils  in 
order  to  maintain  interest  and  secure  the  best  results.  No 
doubt  more  ground  can  be  covered  by  the  imparting  or 
lecture  method,  and,  therefore,  with  advanced  students, 
this  may  be  employed;  but  with  young  children  the  cate- 
chetical method  should  be  adopted  in  order  that  the  apper- 
ceiving  process  may  be  completely  successful.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  the  amount  of  ground  covered,  but  of  the 
thorough  assimilation  of  the  new  ideas  with  the  old.  This 
process  must  of  necessity  be  slow,  owing  to  the  limited 
number  of  related  ideas  that  the  child  possesses. 

With  a  clear  consciousness  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  as  to 
the  kind  of  material  to  be  presented,  and  as  to  the  capacity 
of  the  children,  with  a  definite  aim  as  to  the  result  to  be 
reached,  this  step  in  the  process  of  instruction  should  thus 
be  carried  out  upon  a  psychological  basis  and  should  bear 
abundant  fruit. 

3.  Association.  —  When  the  new  ideas  are  really  brought 
over  the  threshold  of  the  child's  consciousness,  are  indeed 
apperceived  by  him,  they  must  be  so  associated  with  and 


THE   PROCESS   OF   EDUCATION  9I 

related  to  the  old  ones  as  to  become,  as  it  were,  perfectly 
at  home.  They  are  no  longer  strangers,  or  guests  even, 
they  are  a  part  of  the  household,  they  belong  to  the  family. 
These  new  ideas  should  be  employed  and  familiarized  until 
they  are  no  longer  new,  until  their  strangeness  has  disap- 
peared. It  is  like  food  taken  into  the  stomach,  thoroughly 
digested,  turned  into  blood,  circulated  to  every  part  of  the 
body,  changed  into  bone  and  tissue,  becoming  a  part  of 
the  man.  It  is  no  longer  foreign,  it  is  assimilated,  and 
incorporated  with  the  old  until  it  is  as  much  a  part  of  the 
body  as  any  material  previously  absorbed.  So  must  it  be 
with  new  ideas.  They  must  be  so  thoroughly  associated 
with  those  already  gained  as  to  have  a  definite  and  abiding 
place  among  them.  This  is  accomplished  through  repeti- 
tion, through  illustration,  through  questioning,  through 
variety  in  method,  and  through  reflection.  It  often  happens 
that  the  presentation  of  a  fact  by  one  method  would 
carry  conviction ;  by  another,  it  would  remain  strange 
and  unfamiliar.  Hence  the  necessity  of  approaching 
a  subject  from  a  variety  of  standpoints  and  by  different 
methods.  New  materials  that  are  not  thus  settled  in  their 
relations  to  those  established  are  of  but  little  value  and  are 
soon  forgotten.  Much  teaching  goes  to  waste  from  a 
lack  of  appreciation  of  this  fact.  Hence  the  importance 
of  association  as  a  step  in  the  work  of  instruction. 

4.  Recapitulation,  —  It  now  follows  that  the  pupil 
should  be  required  to  reproduce  the  lesson  as  a  whole  in 
order  to  see  whether  its  relations  have  been  comprehended, 
and  to  fix  the  logical  sequences.  Kern  says,  ''No  lesson 
is  completely  learned  until  the  pupil  is  able  to  restate  all 
of  its  parts  in  the  form  of  a  logical  summary.  *'    Recapitu- 


92  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

lation  gathers  up  the  individual  parts  of  the  lesson  and  pre- 
sents them  as  a  whole.  The  lesson  may  indeed  have  been 
well  taught  and  its  truths  vividly  presented,  but  if  there  is 
failure  to  summarize  and  classify  the  results  as  a  culmina- 
tion of  the  work,  the  best  results  will  not  be  attained.  The 
power  to  analyze,  outline,  or  classify  a  discourse  to  which 
one  has  listened  is  a  measure  of  the  trained  intelligence 
possessed.  The  impression  of  a  sermon  or  lecture  is  often 
evanescent  because  of  the  lack  of  this  power.  The  culti- 
vation of  this  power  is  therefore  of  vital  consequence  in 
education,  and  it  should  begin  with  young  children  in  con- 
nection with  the  instruction  given  in  each  class.  It  is  of 
great  value  as  a  means  of  retaining  the  lessons  taught. 

Lange  remarks,^  ''The  presentation  of  the  new  material 
closes  with  a  recapitulation  and  review  of  the  whole  by  the 
pupil.  He  should  now  show  by  a  systematic  reproduction 
of  the  lesson  presented  that  he  has  fully  understood  the 
subject.  'The  best  test  that  a  person  has  understood  a 
thing  is,  that  he  can  reproduce  it  in  his  own  way,  with  his 
own  words  '  (Herder).  So,  then,  if  the  separate  parts  of 
the  new  are  more  closely  united  by  many  repetitions,  the 
entirety  will  be  more  strongly  impressed  upon  the  mind. 
To  every  lesson  which  offers  something  new,  belongs  the 
mission  of  making  a  definite,  well-defined  series  of  ideas 
the  inalienable  property  of  the  child.  But  the  formation 
of  such  fixed  ideas  would  be  furthered  but  Httle  if  the  repe- 
tition and  combination  of  the  material  learned  should  pro- 
ceed in  the  form  of  repeated  questioning  and  analyzing 
of  such  material,  i.e.,  if  the  pupil  is  not  required  to  give 
the  whole  matter  at  once,  but  is  allowed  to  give  it  piecemeal. 

^  "Apperception,"  p.  218. 


THE   PROCESS   OF   EDUCATION 


93 


....  Then  apperception  would,  to  all  outward  appear- 
ance, never  reach  perfection.  We  always  require,  there- 
fore, a  complete,  free  narration,  an  independent,  connected 
presentation  of  what  is  learned.  We  allow  the  pupil  to 
speak  freely  and  without  hindrance,  without  interrupting 
his  course  of  thought  by  questions  or  suggestions.  As  a 
rule,  we  do  not  interfere  even  when  he  mixes  in  error  or 
forgets  important  things;  but  after  the  conclusion  of  his 
presentation,  we  ask  the  whole  class  to  rectify  errors,  supply 
deficiencies,  and  correct  an  incomplete  rendering.  Further, 
we  must  avoid  forcing  the  pupils  to  comprehend  or  grasp 
the  whole  by  means  of  prepared  forms  of  expression  that 
are  not  clear  to  him." 

Rules.  —  This  combats  the  idea  of  committing  a  rule 
to  memory  before  it  is  understood,  but  it  does  not  forbid 
the  committing  of  rules  as  a  final  act  of  recapitulation. 
Indeed,  for  an  individual  to  possess  definite  rules  that 
govern  his  life  and  conduct  is  an  evidence  of  the  right  kind 
of  education.  Without  rules  he  is  a  vagabond,  intellectu- 
ally and  physically,  as  well  as  morally.  From  the  outset, 
the  mother  trains  her  child  to  obey  rules  governing  its 
physical  life,  —  regularity  of  meals  and  of  sleeping-hours, 
cleanly  habits,  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  home  and  of  the 
community.  The  maintenance  of  health  and  the  happiness 
of  the  child  depend  largely  upon  its  knowledge  of  such  rules 
and  obedience  to  them.  Moral  life  depends  upon  the  pos- 
session of  rules  or  maxims  of  common  acceptance,  and  the 
living  up  to  them.  Every  person  established  in  his  ethical 
life  is  governed  by  rules  which  have  been  committed  to 
memory,  whose  significance  has  been  explained,  and  the 
importance  of  obedience  to  these  rules  has  been  impressed 


94  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

upon  him.  **As  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you, 
do  ye  even  so  unto  them,"  *' Honesty  is  the  best  policy," 
"Govern  your  passions  or  they  will  govern  you," 
''To  err  is  human,  to  forgive,  divine,"  "Forgive  us 
our  debts,  as  we  forgive  our  debtors,"  are  ethical 
principles  the  possession  of  which  does  a  great  deal  to 
safeguard  a  person  from  evil.  Just  so  there  are  intellect- 
ual laws  and  principles  that  hold  one  to  correct  thinking. 
A  child  may  be  trained  in  a  home  of  culture  and  grow  up 
to  use  correct  English.  This  will  not  answer  as  a  substi- 
tute for  the  study  of  grammar.  He  must  not  only  speak 
correctly,  but  later  in  life  he  must  know  the  rules  for  the 
use  of  language  through  which  he  may  "prove  all  things," 
may  fortify  and  establish  the  ground  on  which  he  stands. 
Without  this  he  must  ever  remain  uncertain  and  insecure 
in  his  use  of  language. 

A  rule  is  a  sort  of  recapitulation.  The  child  should  first 
state  the  truth  in  his  own  language  as  proof  that  he  has 
comprehended,  as  the  quotation  from  Lange  on  a  preced- 
ing page  shows;  but  after  he  has  furnished  proof  that  he 
understands,  after  the  corrections  and  criticisms  of  the 
class  have  been  made,  then  a  carefully  worded  rule  or  prin- 
ciple should  be  given  him  to  commit  to  memory.  It  is  no 
easy  matter  to  formulate  a  rule  that  states  the  whole  truth 
and  nothing  but  the  truth,  in  language  that  will  stand  the 
test  of  criticism.  It  requires  the  closest  thought  of  a  wise 
person,  and  surely  this  may  not  be  expected  of  a  child.  Nor 
will  such  memorizing  be  by  any  means  a  difficult  task  for 
the  child  who  has  been  prepared  for  it  by  a  gradual 
approach,  and  to  whom  it  is  a  mere  recapitulation  in  cor- 
rect language  of  what  he  has  already  learned.     A  rule  is 


THE   PROCESS   OF   EDUCATION  95 

a  standard  or  norm,  and  the  more  norms  of  truth  that 
the  individual  has  stored  away,  whether  it  be  regarding 
the  ethical,  intellectual,  or  physical  aspect,  the  better  he  is 
educated. 

A  rule  should  not  be  committed  to  memory  at  the  out- 
set without  understanding  its  meaning.  Let  the  truth  be 
reached  by  an  inductive  process,  and  let  its  statement  be  a 
recapitulation  of  the  material  mastered  and  comprehended. 
It  is  a  sound  educational  doctrine  to  require  at  this  stage, 
stated  rules,  principles,  summaries,  or  outlines  to  be  com- 
mitted to  memory  as  the  final  act  in  the  process  of  instruc- 
tion and  as  a  means  of  fixing  material  which  has  been 
skilfully  presented,  brought  into  intimate  relation  through 
association,  as  the  summary  of  the  result.  These  norms 
thus  stored  away  will  constitute  reserves  upon  which 
to  draw,  and  supply  the  mind  with  certain  and  tried 
standards  of  accepted  truth. 

5.  Application,  —  It  now  remains  to  apply  the  general 
concepts  that  have  been  gained  to  concrete  cases.  Lange 
thinks  that  "the  application  of  universal  concepts  to  the 
concrete,  seldom  comes  of  itself;  it  must  be  taught,  shown, 
and  practiced  in  every  branch  of  study."  The  child  is 
apt  to  think  of  the  school  as  another  world  from  that  in 
which  he  lives  out  of  school,  and  the  school  itself  is  often 
responsible  for  that  feeling  because  it  fails  closely  to  touch 
life.  The  school  should  come  into  intimate  relation  with 
the  verities  of  every-day  life,  and  this  final  step  of  instruc- 
tion, or  that  which  may  be  said  to  succeed  instruction, 
application,  will  cUnch  the  whole  process  and  reduce  it 
to  practical  value.  Schoolwork  should  be  applied  to 
the  activities  of  the  home,  the  vocation,  the  recreation,  the 


96  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

social  relations.  The  paving  of  a  neighboring  street,  the 
construction  of  a  house,  the  planting  or  harvesting  of  a 
crop,  dealings  in  the  shop  and  at  the  store,  a  hundred  varied 
and  daily  transactions,  will  suggest  abundant  examples  in 
arithmetic.  What  better  means  of  illustrating  and  apply- 
ing the  various  tables  of  measure  than  could  be  found  by 
taking  a  class  to  a  house  under  construction?  Let  the 
pupils  compute  the  cubic  yards  excavated  from  the  cellar; 
the  contents  of  the  cellar  wall;  the  amount  of  lumber  in  the 
timbers  of  the  framework,  and  in  the  boards  for  covering; 
the  shingles  of  the  roof;  the  lathing  and  plastering;  the 
surface  to  be  painted,  —  in  a  word,  the  whole  work  of 
construction  and  cost  of  the  same,  from  lifting  the  first 
shovelful  of  earth  to  the  last  square  of  papering.  This 
would  doubtless  take  a  long  time,  but  there  would  be  con- 
stant application  even  while  the  instruction  is  going  on. 
And,  when  completed,  it  would  be  found  that  the  pupils 
thoroughly  understand  what  they  have  studied. 

By  a  similar  plan,  geography  can  be  taught  and  applied. 
Take  the  pupils  to  a  neighboring  creek,  or  bay,  or  moun- 
tain, and  let  them  study  it  as  a  real  thing,  not  as  something 
described  in  the  text- book.  History  may  be  treated  in  a 
like  manner,  especially  if  there  are  points  of  historic  interest 
near  at  hand.  Language  work  may  be  made  intensely 
practical  by  having  pupils  describe  with  pen  or  orally 
the  incidents  and  things  concerning  which  they  know 
something.  And  so  on  with  all  the  subjects  of  the 
curriculum.  In  this  way,  by  means  of  constant  and  practi- 
cal application  the  teacher  will  illustrate  the  truth  that  the 
school  not  only  prepares  for  life,  but  it  is  life  itself. 


THE   PROCESS   OF   EDUCATION  97 

McMurry  offers  some  valuable  suggestions  on  this  point:* 
**  Children  who  have  learned  to  apply  one  lesson  thoroughly 
are  ready  and  eager  to  grapple  with  new  problems.  There 
is  no  better  test  of  successful  progress  in  studies  than  this 
power  to  render  practical  account  of  our  possessions,  and 
there  is  no  better  guarantee  for  future  energetic  effort. 

**One  conclusion  that  springs  from  this  entire  discussion 
is,  that  the  proper  use  of  knowledge  has  to  be  learned.  It 
does  not  come  by  accident  or  inadvertence,  but  is  the  result 
of  definite  purpose  and  rigorous  effort.  Even  if  later  life 
with  its  severer  tests  were  not  to  follow,  the  school  would 
need  the  tonic  of  this  kind  of  effort  to  adapt  and  use  knowl- 
edge in  order  to  bring  schoolwork  to  proper  unity  and 
completeness. 

"We  may  now  glance  back  at  the  lesson  unit,  in  the  treat- 
ment of  which  application  is  the  final  step.  In  working  up 
to  a  general  truth  or  concept  through  particulars,  we  have 
followed  the  inductive  movement  through  the  steps  of  prep- 
aration, presentation,  comparison,  and  generalization.  A 
single  central  thought,  which  lies  at  the  root  of  the  lesson 
unity,  has  dominated  the  entire  movement.  In  the  appli- 
cation we  are  still  operating  with  this  central  truth,  turn- 
ing it  about,  testing  it  with  new  data,  and  detecting  the 
various  forms  in  which  it  clothes  itself.  The  length  of  time, 
that  is,  the  number  of  recitations  required  in  working  out 
this  general  truth  through  all  the  five  steps,  depends  upon 
the  simplicity  or  complexity  of  the  central  truth  itself,  and 
the  amount  of  data  required  to  develop  and  apply  it.*' 

There  is  no  doubt  that  a  strict  adherence  to  the  five 
formal  steps  as  a  method  of  procedure  in  each  recitation 

*  "Method  of  the  Recitation,"  p.  234. 


98  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

would  have  a  tendency  to  make  teaching  mechanical,  to 
rob  the  teacher  of  originality,  and  to  destroy  his  individu- 
ality. Surely  such  was  not  the  intent  of  those  who  formu- 
lated this  scheme.  Indeed,  the  successful  carrying  out  of 
this  plan  with  a  topic  will  often  involve  several  recitation 
periods.  It  may  require  a  whole  period  to  prepare  the  pupils 
for  the  new  truth,  another  for  its  presentation,  and  so  on; 
but  it  maintains  a  unity  of  thought  and  purpose  whether 
one  period  or  ten  periods  may  be  required,  and  therefore 
reaches  a  definite  end.  It  furnishes  a  logical,  systematic, 
and  natural  order  of  instruction. 

A  knowledge  of  the  formal  steps,  then,  may  be  of  great 
value  to  the  teacher  as  a  guide  and  as  a  natural  plan  to  be 
followed.  It  furnishes  a  definite  and  scientific  scheme  as 
against  an  absence  of  plan,  a  groping  in  the  dark.  It  is 
methodical,  but  not  mechanical ;  it  requires  system,  but  it  is 
not  so  pedantic  as  to  destroy  the  individuality  of  the  teacher. 
It  never  loses  sight  of  the  end  to  be  reached  in  instruction, 
namely,  the  apperception  of  the  knowledge-material  on  the 
part  of  the  pupil. 

Summary 

/.  Instruction  is  the  process  whereby  the  difference  in 
knowledge  between  two  persons  is  wholly  or  in  part  can- 
celled. The  main  purpose  of  the  school  is  to  furnish  instruc- 
tion, the  maintenance  of  order  and  the  supplying  of  material 
means  being  merely  for  the  purpose  of  making  instruction 
possible  and  effective.  It  should  be  systematic,  intelligent, 
and  forceful.  It  implies  the  possession  of  knowledge  and 
skill  in  imparting  it;  hence  the  necessity  of  trained  teachers. 


THE   PROCESS   OF   EDUCATION  99 

//.  There  are  five  steps  of  instruction  to  be  observed, 
namely,  (i)  preparation,  (2)  presentation,  (3)  association, 
(4)  recapitulation,  and  (5)  application.  In  general,  these 
steps  suggest  the  natural  and  logical  order  of  procedure  so 
as  to  secure  the  apperceptive  results.  The  teacher,  how- 
ever, should  not  be  so  bound  by  these  formal  steps  as  to  for- 
feit his  own  individuality. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

METHODS   OF   INSTRUCTION 

References. — Roark,  Method  in  Education;  Rein,  Encyklo- 
padisches  Handbuch  der  Padagogik,  Vol.  V;  White,  Elements  of 
Pedagogy;  De  Garmo,  Essentials  of  Method;  McMurry,  General 
Method;  McMurry,  Method  of  the  Recitation;  McMurry,  Special 
Methods  in  Geography,  History,  English  Classics,  etc.;  Prince, 
Courses  and  Methods;  Smith,  Systematic  Methodology. 

Knowledge  and  Method.  —  Many  urge  that  the  essential 
thing  for  the  teacher  is  knowledge  of  the  subjects  he  is  to 
teach.  They  say,  "If  he  knows  his  subject,  he  can  teach 
it."  It  will  readily  be  admitted  that  one  cannot  teach 
what  one  does  not  know,  and  therefore  the  first  essential 
for  the  teacher  is  knowledge  of  the  subject-matter.  No 
amount  of  skilful  manipulation,  no  pleasant  manner,  no 
happy  gift  in  presentation,  can  be  a  substitute  for  lack  of 
knowledge,  though  it  may  temporarily  seem  to  be.  No 
one  can  give  what  he  does  not  possess,  and,  therefore,  before 
the  young  teacher  can  be  shown  how  to  teach,  he  must  know 
the  subject-matter  that  he  is  to  teach.  Hence  there  must 
be  an  academic  foundation  before  attention  is  given  to 
method. 

Although  knowledge  is  admittedly  first  in  importance 
in  the  equipment  of  the  teacher,  method  also  must  be  re- 
garded as  essential.  Roark  says,^  "To  know  well  what  is 
to  be  taught,  is,  of  course,  one  prerequisite  of  teaching,  but 
it  is  only  one  of  them.  The  other  two  are  a  knowledge  of 
*  "Method  in  Education,"  p.  lo. 

lOO 


METHODS   OF   INSTRUCTION  lOI 

mind  and  its  laws  of  growth,  and  a  knowledge  of  how  to 
make  subject-matter  stimulate  and  nourish  growth.  An 
attempt  to  teach  without  this  knowledge  of  mind  would  be 
much  like  an  attempt  to  practice  medicine  with  only  a 
knowledge  of  the  pharmacopoeia,  and  with  none  of  anatomy 
and  physiology.  ...  So  while  it  is  still  true  that  teachers 
with  good  method,  without  full  knowledge,  will  sometimes 
accomplish  as  much  as  the  thorough  scholar  who  lacks 
method,  —  and  may  even  accomplish  more,  —  yet  the  best 
teaching  is  done  where  sound  and  broad  scholarship  is 
joined  to  sympathetic  knowledge  of  mind  processes,  and  to 
skill  in  making  mind  hungry  for  the  best  nutriment. '^^ 

The  testimony  of  Pestalozzi  is:^  *'Only  have  a  proper 
method,  and  you  will  be  surprised  at  the  amount  children 
learn  in  a  single  day."  Diesterweg  remarks  with  emphasis, 
"The  typical  power  of  the  teacher  lies  in  his  method;'* 
again,  some  one  has  said,  ''The  teacher  himself  is  the  best 
method.''  It  has  been  asserted  that  method  only  touches 
the  superficial,  the  external  side  of  the  child's  life;  and 
Karl  Lange  very  pertinently  asks,  ''Which  of  these  is 
right?"  and  he  answers,  "Neither  of  them.  For  the  edu- 
cating influence  of  the  teacher  depends  not  alone  upon  his 
method  of  instruction,  but  also  upon  the  inner  working 
power  of  his  own  ideal.  Again,  the  teacher  is  not  the 
method,  but  rather  he  has  method.  He  is  still  a  teacher 
even  if  he  has  no  method,  though  indeed  a  poor  one.  He 
becomes  a  good  teacher  by  means  of  method;  it  is  an  im- 
portant trait  of  his  character,  because  the  definition  of  a 
capable  teacher's  personality  includes  the  idea  of  method. 
What  follows?  This,  that  the  teacher's  method  and  his 
^  Rein:  " Encyklopadisches  Handbuch  der  Padagogik,"  Vol.  V,  p.  308. 


I02  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

personality  are  closely  bound  together,  and  that  it  is  a  false 
notion  to  set  these  characteristics  in  opposition  to  each 
other.     The  one  cannot  be  thought  of  without  the  other." 

According  to  Rosenkranz  three  things  are  presupposed 
in  instruction,  namely,  the  subject  to  be  taught,  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  pupil,  and  the  activity  of  the  teacher. 
These  interpenetrate  each  other  and  ''constitute  in  actuality 
one  whole."  The  subject  must  be  suited  to  the  age  and 
capacity  of  the  pupil.  It  must  be  presented  in  a  logical 
manner,  even  though  the  child  has  not  yet  reached  the 
distinctive  period  of  reasoning.  No  teacher  may  offer  as 
an  excuse,  ''I  did  not  present  this  topic  in  a  logical  manner 
because  my  pupils  have  not  yet  reached  the  logical  epoch. " 
Any  topic  will  be  better  taught  and  better  learned  if 
presented  in  the  order  of  sequence.  Then,  too,  "The 
subject  has  a  nature  of  its  own  which  requires  it  to  be 
studied  in  a  certain  definite  order.  Whatever  modifica- 
tions are  made  in  the  subject  to  adapt  it  to  the  immature 
mind  of  the  pupil,  this  essential  nature  of  the  subject  must 
not  be  changed.  ...  It  is  clear  enough  that  all  subjects 
to  be  taught  possess  logical  relations  of  dependence  of  one 
part  on  another,  of  the  parts  on  the  whole.  There  must  be, 
therefore,  a  certain  order  of  exposition  of  the  subject:  the 
dependent  parts  must  be  shown  in  their  dependence, 
otherwise  the  subject  will  not  be  taught  properly.  We 
cannot  teach  the  zones  or  parallels  and  meridians  unless 
we  have  previously  taught  the  spherical  form  of  the  earth. 

"Much  change  and  adaptation  will  be  made  by  the 
teacher  in  order  to  make  the  subject  entertaining  to  his 
pupil  and  easy  of  access,  but  the  logical  order  of  dependence 
of  one  topic  on  another  within  arithmetic,  geometry,  nat- 


METHODS   OF  INSTRUCTION  I03 

ural  history,  grammar,  etc.,  cannot  be  changed;  he  must 
take  it  as  it  is,  for  that  is  the  intelligible  order  and  must 
be  followed.  The  words  of  the  classic  author  must  be 
translated  as  they  stand,  and  not  from  the  end  backward, 
if  we  would  find  sense  in  them."  ^ 

Method  a  Guide.  —  The  teacher  thus  has  a  guide  in  the 
method  of  presenting  his  material  to  which  he  must  adapt 
himself.  In  many  non-essentials  and  devices,  he  may  em- 
ploy his  originality  and  exercise  personal  ingenuity.  But 
he  must  conform  to  the  natural  order  of  development,  and 
no  personal  enthusiasm  or  unique  method  can  be  a  sub- 
stitute for  that  order.  Then  the  child  must  be  consciously 
present.  No  matter  how  well  articulated  and  logical  the 
method,  no  matter  how  interesting  the  teacher  may  be, 
there  can  be  no  instruction  unless  the  child  is  consciously 
engaged  in  the  matter.  To  reach  the  consciousness  of  the 
child,  the  material  must  be  properly  selected.  Quoting 
again  from  Rosenkranz,  "But  the  subject  must  be  adapted 
to  the  consciousness  of  the  pupil,  and  here  the  order  of 
procedure  and  the  exposition  depend  upon  the  stage  which 
he  has  reached  intellectually,  for  the  special  manner  of 
instruction  must  be  conditioned  by  this.  If  he  is  in  the 
stage  of  sense-perception,  we  must  use  the  illustrative 
method;  if  in  the  stage  of  image-conception,  that  of  com- 
bination; and  if  in  the  stage  of  thinking,  that  of  demon- 
stration. The  first  exhibits  the  object  directly,  or  some 
representation  of  it;  the  second  considers  it  according  to  the 
different  possibilities  which  exist  in  it,  and  turns  it  aroimd 

*  Comment  of  Dr.  Harris  in  Rosenkranz,  "Philosophy  of  Education,*' 
P-  97- 


104  Elementary  pedagogy 

on  all  sides  (and  examines  its  relations  to  other  things); 
the  third  demonstrates  the  necessity  of  the  relations  in 
which  it  stands  either  with  itself  or  with  others.  This  is 
the  natural  order  from  the  standpoint  of  the  developing 
intelligence:  first,  the  object  is  presented  to  the  perception; 
then  combination  with  other  things  shows  its  relations  and 
presents  its  different  phases;  and,  finally,  the  thinking 
activity  circumscribes  the  restlessly  moving  reflection  by 
the  idea  of  necessity.''  ^ 

No  method  that  ignores  the  truths  above  set  forth,  can 
secure  good  results.  Hence  the  necessity  of  a  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  mental  development.  In  the  early  years  of 
the  child's  life  there  must  be  a  great  deal  of  illustra- 
tive material  employed.  Indeed,  illustrative  material  may 
never  be  wholly  discarded.  Even  in  the  university  where 
original  investigation  is  pursued,  some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant work  is.  successfully  carried  out  only  by  the  employ- 
ment of  concrete  illustration,  —  as,  for  example,  the  clinic 
and  the  dissecting-room  in  the  medical  college,  the  labora- 
tory in  all  science  work,  and  pictures  and  sculpture  in  the 
study  of  art  and  history.  Illustration  is  also  employed 
with  excellent  results  by  public  speakers  — preachers, 
orators,  lecturers  —  in  appealing  to  adult  audiences.  But 
with  mature  persons  the  use  of  illustration  is  incidental, 
while  with  young  children  it  is  the  chief  means  of  instruc- 
tion. 

Care  in  using  Illustrations.  —  A  caution,  however,  may 
be  necessary  at  this  point.  Because  objects  are  essential, 
many  teachers  employ  them  in  such  variety  and  number 

*  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  98. 


METHODS   OF   INSTRUCTION 


lOS 


as  to  dissipate  the  attention  rather  than  attract  and  fix 
it.  For  example,  a  teacher  was  endeavoring  to  teach  a 
class  the  number  six.  She  had  marbles,  beans,  splints, 
blocks,  and  a  variety  of  other  objects.  The  pupils  were 
interested  in  the  objects,  but  not  in  the  end  sought,  the 
learning  of  the  number  six.  The  lesson  was  therefore  a 
failure.  Another  young  lady  at  great  pains  constructed 
a  beautiful  house  of  pasteboard  for  an  object-lesson,  not 
in  architecture,  but  in  number.  She  had  the  pupils  count 
the  windows,  the  gables,  the  doors,  but  she  failed  to  teach 
the  number  she  had  in  mind  because  the  attention  of  the 
class  was  diverted  by  the  object  itself.  A  single  class  of 
objects  should  be  employed,  sufficient  to  make  the  appeal 
to  the  senses,  and  all  other  objects  should  be  excluded. 

Care  should  be  taken  in  the  choice  of  objects.  For 
example,  if  oranges  were  chosen  for  the  purpose  of  teaching 
number,  the  attention  of  the  pupils  would  be  diverted  to  the 
taste,  smell,  color,  desire  for  possession,  etc.  Instead  of  con- 
centrating the  attention  upon  the  one  idea  to  be  taught,  it 
is  dissipated.  Hence  some  simple  objects,  like  blocks, 
should  be  selected,  because  they  will  not  divide  the  atten- 
tion, and,  at  the  same  time,  they  furnish  the  necessary  con- 
crete illustration.  Every  particle  of  attention  diverted  from 
the  lesson  in  hand  by  external  conditions  is  just  so  much 
loss  in  securing  the  end  sought.  Again,  objects  are  em- 
ployed as  a  means  to  an  end,  and  when  they  are  no  longer 
needed  to  secure  that  end,  they  should  be  abandoned. 
The  rule  should  be,  employ  concrete  illustration  whenever 
necessary  to  enforce  the  truth  even  till  adult  life,  but  omit 
it  when  it  is  not  needed. 


Io6  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

Personality  of  the  Teacher  a  Factor  m  Method.  —  The 

third  essential  of  method  is  the  personality  of  the  teacher. 
Rosenkranz  thinks  that  the  personality  of  the  teacher  creates 
an  individual  method.  **For,"  he  says,  "however  clearly 
the  subject  may  be  defined,  however  exactly  the  psycho- 
logical stage  of  the  pupil  may  be  regulated,  the  teacher 
cannot  do  away  with  his  own  individuality  even  in  the 
most  objective  relations.  This  individuality  must  pene- 
trate the  whole  with  its  own  exposition.  .  .  .  The  teacher 
must  place  himself  on  the  standpoint  of  the  pupil,  i.e.,  he 
must  adapt  himself;  he  must  see  that  the  abstract  is  made 
clear  to  him  in  the  concrete,  ix,,  he  must  illustrate,  he 
must  fill  up  the  gaps  which  will  certainly  appear,  and 
which  mar  the  thorough  seizing  of  the  subject,  i.e.,  he 
must  supply.  In  all  these  relations  the  pedagogical  tact 
of  the  teacher  may  prove  itself  truly  ingenious  in  varying 
the  method  according  to  the  changefulness  of  the  ever- 
varying  needs,  in  contracting  or  expanding  the  extent,  in 
omitting  or  accumulating  examples,  in  stating  or  only  in- 
dicating what  is  to  be  supplied.  The  true  teacher  is  free 
from  any  superstitious  belief  in  any  one  procedure  as  a 
sure  specific  which  he  follows  always  in  a  monotonous 
bondage.  This  freedom  can  only  be  enjoyed  by  him  who 
is  capable  of  the  highest  method.  The  teacher  has  arrived 
at  the  highest  point  of  ability  in  teaching  when  he  can  make 
use  of  all  means,  from  the  loftiness  of  solemn  seriousness, 
through  smooth  statement,  to  the  play  of  jest  —  yes,  even 
to  the  incentive  of  irony,  and  to  humor."  ^ 

For  our  purpose,  method  is  twofold  :   it  embraces  (a)  the 
order  of  procedure  in  selecting  and  arranging  material,  and 
*  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  104. 


METHODS    OF   INSTRUCTION  107 

(6)  the  mode  of  systematic  presentation  of  subject-matter,  is 
instruction  in  the  discovery,  confirmation,  and  elucidation  of 
truth.  The  order  of  procedure,  the  mode  of  presentation, 
and  the  manner  of  elucidation  define  the  teacher's  person- 
ality. The  best  method  serves  its  purpose  only  through  a 
capable  person,  who  carries  it  out  with  zeal  and  spirit ;  but 
a  model  teacher,  on  the  other  hand,  without  a  well-consid- 
ered method  of  instruction,  is  inconceivable.  Without  gen- 
uine personality  method  is  nothing  but  cold  formality.  It 
must  be  warmed  by  the  enthusiasm  and  fire  of  the  ardent 
personality  of  a  living  teacher.  It  is  the  means  whereby 
the  instructor  speaks  to  the  heart  of  the  child. 

To  reach  the  ideal  character  of  teacher  requires  time, 
and  that  experience  which  comes  only  with  years  of  careful 
study  and  conscientious  work.  Principles  must  be  adopted, 
and  these  must  be  put  to  actual  test.  The  training  of  the 
normal  school  is  the  very  best  means  of  preparing  one  to  be 
a  teacher,  especially  in  the  common  school.  The  school 
must  seek  to  instil  into  its  pupils  the  true  pedagogical 
spirit;  and  the  more  this  is  done,  the  better  the  true  per- 
sonaUty  of  the  teacher  will  be  brought  out,  the  surer  will  be 
the  success.  Educational  theory  must  be  so  incorporated 
into  the  very  flesh  and  blood  of  the  teacher  that  he  will 
exemplify  that  theory  unconsciously  though  in  a  rational 
manner  in  every  exercise  and  at  all  times.  The  teacher  is 
free  only  when  he  is  no  longer  obliged  to  measure  every 
act  by  formulas,  but  is  so  imbued  with  the  truth  that  the 
method  of  imparting  it  is  no  longer  thought  of. 

Self-Improvement  Essential  to  Method.  —  The  teacher 
must  also  continue  his  own  scientific  education,  for  even 


Io8  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

the  richest  will  become  poor  who  forever  pays  out  and 
takes  nothing  in.  "  Who  has  ceased  to  improve  himself, 
has  ceased  to  improve  others,"  says  Diesterweg.  While 
general  culture  must  certainly  come  in  for  a  large  part  of 
the  teacher's  improvement,  the  central  idea  of  further 
culture  should  be  professional.  Not  only  by  means  of 
books,  but  also  through  association  with  talented  educa- 
tors, will  he  gain  inspiration  for  his  work.  He  must  not 
be  ashamed  to  possess  the  pecuharities  that  characterize 
the  teacher,  though  he  should  not  cultivate  offensive  ped- 
antic manners.  Too  often  this  latter  characteristic  sub- 
jects him  to  ridicule  if  not  contempt.  It  shows  itself  by 
certain  mannerisms  that  contact  with  children  in  the  school- 
room has  a  tendency  to  foster.  There  he  is  superior  in 
knowledge  and  authority,  and  it  is  very  easy  to  acquire  the 
habit  of  exhibiting  his  pedantry  even  when  he  is  out  of 
school.  But  in  the  school  it  is  not  necessary  to  assume 
these  peculiar  mannerisms,  and  the  freer  the  teacher  is  from 
them  the  better  will  be  his  influence  and  his  discipline. 

It  is  as  important  for  the  teacher  to  cultivate  a  self-con- 
trolled and  a  pleasing  personality,  both  in  and  out  of  school, 
as  it  is  that  he  should  be  master  of  the  details  of  method. 
There  are  many  things  in  the  schoolroom  that  try  the  pa- 
tience, arouse  anger,  and  awaken  evil  feelings.  On  the 
other  hand,  daily  contact  with  young  children,  whose  spirit 
is  naturally  joyous,  and  whose  hearts  overflow  with  love, 
ought  to  make  the  teacher  generous,  loving,  sympathetic, 
and  full  of  good  cheer.  In  lifting  others  into  a  higher 
plane  of  living  and  opportunity,  in  implanting  in  them 
noble  thoughts,  in  arousing  better  aspirations,  and  in  in- 
citing them  to  higher  ambitions,  the  teacher  himself  acquires 


METHODS   OF   INSTRUCTION  109 

nobler  thoughts,  aspirations,  ambitions.  It  illustrates  the 
divine  truth,  "With  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be 
measured  to  you  again."  This  is  one  of  the  teacher's 
richest  rewards,  and  it,  in  a  measure,  compensates  for 
inadequate  salary  and  want  of  appreciation.  In  blessing 
others,  he  himself  is  blessed,  and  he  finds  that  "It  is 
more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  And  this 
is  true  also  in  the  teacher's  intercourse  with  his  people, 
to  whom  he  may  also  be  a  blessing.  One  of  the  most 
important  lessons  that  Booker  T.  Washington  teaches 
his  students  at  Tuskegee  is  that  they  are  to  go  out  not  only 
to  instruct  the  children,  but  also  to  teach  the  parents  how 
to  live  better  and  to  uplift  the  race.  If  the  teacher  pos- 
sesses the  qualities  and  the  spirit  that  have  been  pointed 
out  as  necessary  to  success  in  the  schoolroom,  it  will  not 
be  difficult  for  him  to  be  interested  in  the  community,  and 
the  same  spirit  that  makes  him  beloved  by  his  pupils  will 
make  him  beloved  and  respected  by  his  people. 

To  return  to  the  three  elements  that  a  method  of  instruc- 
tion must  take  into  account,  —  the  selection  and  mastery 
of  the  subject  to  he  taught,  the  consciousness  of  the 
pupily  and  the  personality  of  the  teacher,  —  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  third  element  plays  a  most  important  part. 
If  the  teacher  knows  his  subjects  thoroughly,  is  earnest 
and  impressive ;  if  he  understands  his  pupils  and  knows  how 
to  select  and  present  suitable  material ;  if  he  is  so  fully 
master  of  method  as  not  to  be  fettered  by  it,  but  to  be 
set  free  by  making  it  his  instrument  and  his  aid;  if  he  pos- 
sesses the  peculiar  sympathy  that  attracts  childhood  and 
has  the  ability  to  enter  into  the  thoughts  and  life  of  the 
child,  —  then  his  method  is  likely  to  be  good  and  his  in- 


no  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

struction  successful.  White  remarks/  ''A  method  is  but 
an  orderly  mechanism;  its  efficiency  depends  on  what  the 
teacher  puts  into  it,  and  a  teacher  can  never  put  into  a 
method  what  he  does  not  possess.  In  the  last  analysis, 
the  vital  element  in  teaching  is  the  teacher.  He  is  the  soul 
of  his  methods  and  measures.  If  he  is  weak,  they  will  be 
weak;  if  he  is  potent,  they  will  be  potent." 

Different  Methods.  —  Thus  far  we  have  discussed  the 
general  characteristics  that  determine  method.  It  now  re- 
mains to  consider  the  individual  methods  and  their  em- 
ployment in  the  work  of  instruction.  The  teacher,  even 
if  possessed  with  the  genius  of  teaching,  or  of  the  necessary 
personal  characteristics,  must,  nevertheless,  be  familiar  with 
different  methods  of  instruction  in  order  to  apply  the  method 
that  is  suited  to  the  particular  subject  that  is  presented,  and  to 
the  individual  child.  It  is  clear  that  the  child  in  the  pri- 
mary classes  will  be  reached  by  a  different  method  from  that 
employed  with  the  student  in  college.  Many  subjects  re- 
quire their  own  peculiar  manner  of  approach;  and  it  is 
also  certain  that  there  is  a  great  difference  in  children,  even 
of  the  same  age,  in  their  ability  to  comprehend  a  lesson. 
Some  can  grasp  it  by  one  method,  while  to  others  it  must 
be  presented  by  another.  If  a  traveler  has  the  choice 
of  several  routes  to  a  given  destination,  he  will  be  more 
likely  to  secure  the  transportation  that  suits  his  time, 
his  convenience,  his  purse,  and  his  wishes,  than  if  he  has 
only  one  route  at  his  disposal.  Just  so  the  teacher  who 
is  equipped  with  a  variety  of  methods  will  be  more  likely 
to  attain  the  best  results  than  he  could  secure  if  limited  to 
one. 

*  "Elements  of  Pedagogy,"  p.  210. 


METHODS   OF   INSTRUCTION  m 

Smith  ^  very  clearly  points  out  that  ''there  are  four  dis- 
tinct methods  of  teaching,  which  can  be  understood  only 
in  the  light  of  a  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  the  relation 
of  individual  concepts  and  general  concepts.  They  are 
the  analytic  method,  synthetic  method,  inductive  method, 
and  deductive  method."  He  proceeds  to  define  and  illus- 
trate what  he  understands  by  each  as  follows:  — 

Analytic  Method.  — ''  The  analytic  method  of  teaching 
is  the  method  in  which  we  set  out  with  individuals  or  wholes, 
and  proceed  to  a  consideration  of  the  parts  of  which  they  are 
composed.  Starting  with  a  flower,  and  proceeding  to  a 
study  of  its  parts,  calyx,  corolla,  stamens,  pistil,  etc.,  is  an 
example  of  analytic  teaching.  As  examples  of  the  analytic 
method  of  procedure  in  other  studies  may  be  mentioned: 
taking  a  sentence  in  grammar  and  proceeding  from  that 
to  a  consideration  of  its  parts,  —  subject,  copula,  predicate, 
modifiers,  etc.;  taking  a  problem  in  arithmetic  and  pro- 
ceeding to  its  solution  by  the  method  of  independent  an- 
alysis; taking  a  state  or  country  in  geography  and  proceed- 
ing to  learn  the  several  parts  (the  names,  locations,  and 
characteristics  of  the  particular  rivers,  mountains,  towns, 
etc.)  of  which  it  is  composed.  In  an  analytic  method  of 
teaching,  we  have  given  us  the  individuals  or  wholes  which 
are  simply  the  parts  in  their  proper  relation  to  each  other, 
and  we  proceed  to  consider  each  of  these  parts  as  if  it  were 
then  a  separate  thing." 

Synthetic  Method.  —  ''  The  synthetic  method  of  teaching 
is  the  method  in  which  we  set  out  with  the  dissociated  parts 

*  "Systematic  Methodology, '^  p.  iii.  This  presentation  is  so  lucid 
that  I  shall  quote  quite  fully  from  it.     The  italicizing  of  the  definitions  is 


112  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

of  things  and  proceed  to  bring  these  parts  into  proper  rela- 
tion to  each  other,  so  as  to  construct  as  a  final  product  the 
individual.  Having  a  pile  of  dissociated  bones,  studying 
the  function  of  each,  and  then  bringing  them  into  such 
relation  with  one  another  as  to  produce  finally  the  human 
skeleton,  is  an  example  of  a  synthetic  method  of  teaching. 
Taking  isolated  words  and  building  possible  sentences  with 
them  is  a  synthetic  procedure. 

"  It  should  be  noted  that,  in  the  analytic  method,  the 
parts  are  given  their  relation  to  each  other,  and,  hence, 
the  relations  are  clearly  present  to  be  discovered;  the 
functions  of  the  several  parts  as  they  affect  one  another  are 
thus  made  manifest.  In  the  synthetic  method  the  parts  are 
given  out  of  their  proper  relation  to  each  other,  and  it  is 
assumed  that  they  can  be  studied  in  such  isolation,  and 
that  their  several  relations  can  be  discovered  in  the  process 
of  bringing  them  together  to  construct  the  unit,  or  individual 
thing.  It  should  also  be  noted  that  these  two  methods  have 
to  do  only  with  the  mental  movement  between  single  things 
and  their  parts;  the  idea  of  classification  does  not  enter 
into  either  of  them." 

Inductive  Method.  —  "  The  inductive  method  of  teach- 
ing is  the  method  in  which  we  set  out  with  individual 
things  and  by  a  comparative  study  of  several  individuals  — 
noting  likenesses  and  differences  —  develop  general  notions 
or  generalizations;  or,  we  begin  with  generalizations  of  a 
given  order  and  by  their  comparative  study  we  arrive  at 
still  wider  generalizations.  Taking  several  observable 
portions  of  land,  and,  from  a  comparative  study  of  these, 
deriving  the  notion   and  the   definition   of  island,   is  an 


METHODS    OF    INSTRUCTION  113 

inductive  procedure.  Solving  several  problems  in  arith- 
metic by  independent  analysis,  and  then,  by  comparison 
of  their  processes,  formulating  a  rule  for  the  solution  of 
such  problems,  is  an  inductive  process.  Generalizing 
definitions,  rules,  laws,  and  principles,  from  a  comparative 
study  of  facts,  is  inductive.  The  very  essence  of  induction 
is  comparison  of  members  of  a  class  with  a  view  to  discover- 
ing similar  elements." 

Deductive  Method.  —  ^^  The  deductive  method  of  teaching 
is  the  method  in  which  we  set  out  with  generalizations  {defi- 
nitions, rules,  laws,  or  principles)  and  proceed  to  their  appli- 
cation in  individual  cases.  As  example  of  the  deductive 
method  we  may  mention:  committing  rules  in  arithmetic, 
and  then  applying  them  to  the  solution  of  problems;  study- 
ing the  definitions  of  geography  from  a  book,  and  then 
proceeding  to  find  them  illustrated  in  the  land  and  water 
forms  about  the  school;  reading  the  generalizations  about 
the  human  body,  which  are  contained  in  the  ordinary 
works  on  physiology,  and  then  proceeding  to  examine  our 
bodies  in  order  to  verify  them;  studying  botany  by  first 
reading  the  book  statements  about  plants,  and  following 
this  by  an  examination  of  specimens  of  the  plants  pre- 
viously described;  starting  with  the  axioms  of  mathematics 
and  proceeding  by  a  demonstrative  process  to  principles, 
rules,  and  the  solution  of  problems. 

^^A  careful  consideration  of  the  above  definitions  and 
examples  cited  will  enable  the  learner  to  understand  that 
the  terms  induction  and  deduction  apply  only  to  those  mental 
movements  which  involve  a  passage  from  generalizations, 


114  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

never  to  mental  movements  between  individual  things  and 
their  several  parts.''  ^ 

Which  of  the  methods  explained  should  be  employed  in 
education?  Doubtless  all  of  them  under  varying  circum- 
stances. In  general,  the  practice  employed  and  illus- 
trated in  the  recitation  as  set  forth  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  should  prevail.  As  outlined  by  careful  thinkers,  it 
is  as  follows:  "  (i)  the  apperception  or  assimilation  of 
individual  notions;  (2)  the  transition  from  indi\ddual  to 
general  notions,  w^hether  the  latter  appear  as  definitions, 
rules,  principles,  or  moral  maxims;  and  (3)  the  application 
of  these  general  truths  to  new  concrete  facts  —  the  return 
from  general  notions  to  new  individuals. ''  With  young  chil- 
dren the  method  to  be  employed  should  be  either  synthetic 
or  analytic,  chiefly  the  former,  as  these  methods  deal  with 
single  things  and  their  parts,  and  do  not  require  power  of 
classification.  With  older  persons,  who  are  capable  of 
understanding  principles  and  laws,  and  who  have  the  power 
of  generalizing  and  classifying,  either  the  inductive  or  the 
deductive  method  should  be  employed.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten,  as  has  already  been  shown,  that  the  personal 
peculiarities  of  both  pupil  and  teacher,  as  well  as  the 
characteristics  inherent  in  the  subject  itself,  should  be 
taken  into  account.  Finally  it  may  be  repeated  that  the 
teacher  must  not  be  a  slave  to  method,  but  should  be  so 
thoroughly  master  of  the  subject-matter,  and  so  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  teaching,  that  method  becomes  the  uncon- 

*  These  four  methods  are  so  often  confused  —  synthetic  with  inductive, 
and  analytic  with  deductive  —  that  it  has  seemed  wise  to  give  the  full  pre- 
sentation of  each  method  with  the  illustrative  examples  so  clearly  set  forth 
by  this  author,  without  further  explanation  or  comment. 


METHODS    OF   INSTRUCTION'  1 15 

scious  instrument  through  which  he  presents  the  truth 
forcefully,  logically,  earnestly,  and  in  the  manner  to  leave 
deepest  impressions. 


Summary 

I.  With  young  children  illustrative  material  must  he  em- 
ployed, not  as  an  end  in  itself,  but  as  a  means  to  an  end.  Too 
many  objects  may  dissipate  the  attention  and  defeat  the  end 
in  view.  The  rule  should  be,  employ  suitable  illustration 
whenever  it  will  aid  in  making  the  lesson  clear,  even  with 
advanced  students,  but  abandon  it  when  no  longer  necessary. 

II.  Method  is  the  form  in  which  the  living  content  of 
the  teacher^s  personality  flows  forth,  the  means  through 
which  that  personality  realizes  its  educative  purpose.  The 
three  elements  that  method  must  take  into  account  are  the 
subject  to  be  taught,  the  consciousness  of  the  pupil,  and  the 
personality  of  the  teacher. 


CHAPTER  IX 

PLAY   AS   AN   EDUCATIONAL   FACTOR 

References.  —  Wiggin,  Children's  Rights;  Harrism,  Study  of 
the  Child;  Roark^  Method  in  Education;  Hughes ,  Mistakes  in 
Teaching;  Forhush^  The  Boy  Problem;  Bairiy  Education  as  a 
Science;  Educational  Review ,  Vol.  VIII;  Young  Folks'  Cyclopcedia, 
Vol.  VIII;  Ogden,  Science  of  Education;  Beale,  Work  and  Play 
in  Girls'  Schools;  Froehely  Education  of  Man;  Griggs ^  Moral  Edu- 
cation. 

A  Natural  Tendency  of  the  Young.  —  There  is  a  natural 
tendency  in  all  young  life  to  express  itself  in  play.  One 
sees  this  in  the  gambols  of  the  young  lamb,  the  friskiness 
of  the  puppy,  the  antics  of  the  kitten,  as  well  as  in  the  cease- 
less activity  of  the  child.  The  period  of  play  is  the 
period  during  which  the  being  is  coming  to  maturity,  the 
period  of  education.  Hence  many  educators  have  sought 
to  utilize  this  activity  in  the  education  of  the  child.  The 
Chinese  have  never  had  many  toys,  or  made  use  of  play 
in  their  educational  system,  and  this  partly  accounts  for 
its  serious  defects.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Greeks  encour- 
aged play  in  their  Olympian  games  and  the  preparation 
for  them,  and  these  great  national  meetings  exerted  a  most 
important  influence  upon  the  character  and  the  culture  of 
the  people.  The  toys  of  the  Athenian  child  were  greater 
in  variety  than  those  of  any  other  people  of  antiquity. 
Their  purpose,  however,  was  to  amuse  the  child  rather 
than  serve  as  a  means  of  equipping  for  life's  duties,  as  was 
the  case  in  Sparta  and  Persia. 

ii6 


PLAY   AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL   FACTOR  I17 

That  play  is  a  potent  influence  in  stimulating  a  health- 
ful physical  and  intellectual  growth  is  an  educational 
truth  that  has  been  fully  recognized  only  within  recent 
years.  And  yet,  the  Athenians  appreciated  it  in  the  home, 
and  utiHzed  it  in  their  educational  practice  twenty-five 
centuries  ago.     In  this  they  anticipated  the  kindergarten. 

F6ielon  employed  the  principle  of  play  in  securing  his 
remarkable  success  with  the  young  Duke  of  Burgundy. 
Through  this  means  this  skilful  teacher  awoke  interest  in 
that  intractable  boy;  and  by  means  of  his  ^'Dialogues  and 
Fables,"  Fenelon's  success  with  his  pupil  was  so  phenom- 
enal that  the  passionate  and  wilful  prince  became  docile 
and  obedient,  a  monument  to  the  patience  and  wisdom  of 
his  teacher. 

But  to  Froebel  is  due  the  credit  of  utilizing  play  in  a 
systematic  manner  in  the  education  of  the  young.  Inspired 
by  Pestalozzi,  concerning  whose  influence  upon  him  he 
said,  ^^He  set  one's  soul  on  fire  for  a  higher  and  nobler 
life,  though  he  had  not  made  clear  or  sure  the  exact  road 
toward  it,  or  indicated  the  means  whereby  to  attain  it," 
Froebel  began  the  study  of  ''boys'  play,  the  whole  series  of 
games  in  the  open  air,  and  learned  to  recognize  their  mighty 
power  to  awaken  and  strengthen  the  intelligence  and  the 
soul  as  well  as  the  body."  The  outgrowth  of  this  study 
was  the  kindergarten. 

The  Kindergarten.  —  It  is  not  the  purpose  here  to  dis- 
cuss the  kindergarten  plays  or  to  consider  their  educational 
value.  There  are  two  dangers  that  one  not  fully  acquainted 
with  the  philosophy  of  Froebel  is  likely  to  fall  into.  The 
first  danger  lies  in  the  character,  purpose,  and  employment 


Il8  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

of  the  plays  themselves.  Under  the  unskilled,  improperly 
trained  teacher  the  plays  may  be  so  ill-chosen  or  so  badly 
managed  as  to  become  formal  and  mechanical  in  their 
use.  Indeed,  they  cease  to  be  plays  because  they  lack  the 
spontaneity,  the  freshness,  the  ingenuousness  so  apparent 
in  real  play.  The  example  of  the  boy  who  returned 
home  from  his  first  day  in  the  kindergarten,  threw  his 
schoolbag  on  the  sofa,  and  indignantly  exclaimed,  ^*  I'm  not 
going  there  any  more!  I  can't  waste  my  time  that  way!  " 
illustrates  this  point.  He  had  been  treated  to  "play" 
that  was  neither  play  nor  instruction,  and  saw  through  the 
sham,  as  children  are  likely  to  do.  The  teacher  must  be 
very  careful  that  the  real  essence  of  play,  that  is,  spon- 
taneity, freedom,  genuine  joyousness,  is  retained,  while 
she  knows  the  definite  end  to  be  sought,  and  while  she 
carries  in  her  own  mind  the  lesson  to  be  taught.  Such 
exercises  must  be  to  the  children  real  play,  or  their  value 
will  soon  be  lost.  When  the  children  are  too  old  or  too 
far  advanced  to  enter  upon  an  exercise  as  pure  play,  the 
time  has  come  to  abandon  such  exercise  as  a  means  of 
education. 

The  second  danger  is  the  other  extreme,  that  of  mere 
amusement,  that  of  entertainment.  While,  as  has  been 
said,  from  the  children's  standpoint  the  plays  must  be 
spontaneous,  from  the  teacher's  standpoint  they  must  have 
an  aim.  Froebel  must  have  had  this  thought  in  mind 
when  he  said,  "Play  is  the  purest,  most  spiritual  activity 
of  man  at  this  stage,  at  the  same  time,  typical  of  human 
life  as  a  whole  —  of  the  inner  hidden  natural  life  in  man 
in  all  things.  It  gives,  therefore,  joy,  freedom,  content- 
ment, inner  and  outer  rest,  peace  with  the  world.     A  child 


PLAY   AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL   FACTOR  I19 

that  plays  thoroughly,  with  self-active  determination,  per- 
severingly,  until  physical  fatigue  forbids,  will  surely  be  a 
thorough,  determined  man,  capable  of  self-sacrifice  for  the 
promotion  of  the  welfare  of  himself  and  others.''  Thus 
Froebel  saw  a  definite  purpose  in  play,  and  in  his  whole 
scheme  he  sought  to  utilize  this  natural  instinct  in  laying 
the  foundations  of  education.  The  employment  of  aimless 
plays  teaches  the  children  to  be  restless,  impatient  of  con- 
trol, fidgety,  dependent  upon  entertainment,  and  incapaci- 
tates them  to  fix  the  attention.  The  training  of  the  school 
should  lead  gradually  to  the  power  of  concentrated  work. 
The  school  prepares  for  life  —  an  oft- repeated  truism  —  or 
better  still,  as  Colonel  Parker  puts  it,  it  is  life,  and  life  is 
full  of  tasks  that  must  be  performed.  This  does  not  mean 
that  childhood  is  to  be  repressed  and  its  natural  tendencies 
stifled,  but  its  tendencies  are  to  be  utilized  and  guided 
rather  than  allowed  to  run  riot.  That  is  what  the  founder 
of  the  kindergarten  meant,  and  that  is  what  he  taught. 
This  danger  under  discussion  is  responsible,  in  part,  at 
least,  for  so  many  children  coming  into  the  higher  classes 
with  no  power  of  concentration,  with  so  little  disposition 
to  self-exertion  and  self-application,  and  possessed  of  the 
notion  that  everything  must  be  made  superlatively  easy. 

Mr.  Howard  J.  Rogers  summarizes  the  present  tendency 
most  admirably  :  ^  *'  Beginning  with  the  kindergarten  and 
_  continuing  into  the  elementary  grades,  we  have  run  a  little 
wild  in  the  last  decade  or  more  in  making  things  easy  for 
the  child.  We  have  coaxed  and  coddled  and  bribed  with 
sweetmeats  till  the  child  has  a  totally  wrong  impression 

*  Address  at  the  meeting  of  the  National  Educational  Association  in 
1905,  on  ** Educational  Progress  of  the  Year." 


I20  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

of  his  relativity  to  his  environment.  I  yield  to  no  one  in 
acknowledging  the  great  work  done  by  the  kindergarten, 
particularly  in  the  crowded  portions  of  our  great  cities,  and 
in  approving  its  purpose,  but  this  does  not  mean  approval 
of  all  its  methods.  They  should  not  be  extended  too  far 
into  the  child's  life,  and  the  elementary  schools  should 
begin  to  differentiate  at  once  between  work  and  play.  A 
child  has  a  weak,  imperfect,  illogical  mind,  or  he  would  not 
be  a  child.  To  appeal  to  his  reason  and  his  interest  is  to 
premise  your  work  on  negative  quantities.  Prescribe  what 
your  reason  and  the  experience  of  the  race  have  proven 
good  for  him,  and  see  that  he  does  his  tasks  through  love 
if  possible,  through  compulsion  if  necessary.  If  a  subject 
be  thoroughly  disciplinary  and  wholly  distasteful,  and 
a  child  does  it,  it  is  good  for  the  child.  And  above  all,  let 
us  see  to  it  that  we  instijl  into  the  child  by  leading  him  to 
conquer  difficulties,  and  to  subordinate  his  desires  to  his 
obligations  and  his  duty,  a  moral  fiber  which  will  carry 
him  straight  through  fire  and  water  to  his  goal  in  life;  and 
let  us  not  be  responsible  for  turning  into  the  world  creatures 
of  flexible  backbone,  who  will  pursue  their  sinuous  way 
along  lines  of  pleasure,  interest,  and  the  least  resistance." 

This  is  not  a  criticism  of  the  kindergarten  idea,  or  of 
FroebePs  teaching,  or  of  the  application  of  the  principle 
of  play  in  education.  It  is  a  warning  against  a  misap- 
prehension and  misapplication  of  the  great  Thiiringian's 
teachings.  It  is  an  appeal  for  the  choice  of  suitable  plays, 
those  that  call  for  spontaneous  action  on  the  part  of  the 
children,  and  yet  are  so  directed  and  utilized  by  wise  and 
intelligent  teachers  as  to  accomplish  some  definite  aim. 
As  planned  and  taught  by  its  great  founder,  the  kinder- 


PLAY   AS   AN   EDUCATIONAL   FACTOR  121 

garten  is  the  most  natural  and  the  wisest  scheme  for  the  train- 
ing of  young  children  yet  devised  by  man.  And  its  central 
idea  is  the  utilizing  of  the  instinct  of  play  in  the  young. 

The  Clothing  of  Children.  —  Before  entering  upon  the 
discussion  of  what  we  mean  by  play  and  of  what  value  it 
is,  we  may  briefly  consider  the  character  of  clothing.  The 
proposition  that  the  child  should  be  so  dressed  as  in  no 
way  to  interfere  with  the  perfect  freedom  of  his  body  will 
need  no  discussion.  This  is  essential  for  all  of  his  activi- 
ties whether  play  or  work.  On  this  point  Froebel  says/ 
**In  order  to  enable  the  child  at  this  period  to  move  and 
play,  to  develop  and  grow  freely,  his  clothing  should  be 
free  from  lacing  and  pressure  of  all  kinds;  for  such  cloth- 
ing would  oppress  and  fetter  also  the  spirit  of  the  child. 
The  clothing  of  the  child  in  this  as  well  as  in  the  next 
period,  should  not  bind  the  body;  for  it  will  have  on  the 
mind,  on  the  soul,  of  the  child,  the  same  effect  it  has  on  the 
body.  Clothes,  in  form  and  color  and  cut,  should  never 
become  an  object  in  themselves,  else  they  will  soon  direct 
the  child's  attention  to  his  appearance  instead  of  his  real 
being,  make  him  vain  and  frivolous  —  dollish  —  a  puppet 
instead  of  a  human  being."  These  wise  words  have  value 
for  moral  as  well  as  for  physical  well-being. 

The  Meaning  of  Play.  —  What  do  we  mean  by  play  ? 
How  is  play  distinguished  from  work?  It  is  necessary  to 
determine  clearly  the  difference  between  these  two  activi- 
ties to  define  them,  in  order  to  discover  the  educational 
value  of  play.     Some  would  say  that  it  is  the  element  of 

^  "Education  of  Man,"  p.  63. 


122  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

pleasure  that  distinguishes  play.  This  is  not  true,  for 
many  persons  find  pleasure  in  their  work.  '*We  go  back 
to  school  to-morrow  after  a  vacation  of  two  weeks.  I 
shall  be  glad,  for  I  am  always  happiest  when  I  am  busiest," 
writes  an  enthusiastic  teacher.  Indeed,  that  one  shall  be 
fond  of  his  work  and  take  pleasure  in  it,  is  the  first  essen- 
tial of  success. 

Play  is  easier  than  work,  may  be  offered  as  the  distinc- 
tion. But  some  plays  are  very  hard,  both  physically  and 
mentally.  No  one  would  say  that  foot-ball  or  chess  is 
easy,  and  yet  they  stand  for  play.  Indeed,  there  is  scarcely 
any  kind  of  work  that  calls  for  harder  physical  application 
than  foot- ball,  or  more  severe  mental  application  than 
chess.  It  will  not  be  urged  that  a  game  of  base-ball  is 
easier  for  a  boy  than  to  go  on  an  errand.  In  fact,  many 
boys  love  those  games  best  that  require  greatest  activ- 
ity, that  offer  supreme  obstacles  to  be  overcome.  There 
is  the  greater  triumph  in  winning. 

Again,  it  may  be  said  that  length  or  intensity  of  the 
activity  is  what  decides  the  question.  But  some  of  the 
games  above  mentioned  require  the  greatest  intensity  of 
thought  and  action,  and  yet  they  are  play.  Still  again, 
it  might  be  urged  that  the  desire  to  win  is  the  characteristic 
of  play.  In  many  occupations  men  are  as  eager  to  win 
and  as  jubilant  over  success  as  the  most  enthusiastic  col- 
lege student  over  a  base-ball  victory.  None  of  these  distinc- 
tions clearly  mark  the  difference  between  work  and  play. 

Definition  of  Play  and  Work.  —  We  are  now  ready  for  a 
definition  of  play  and  work.  Play  is  activity  or  effort  that 
finds  its  end  within  itself,  while  work  finds  its  end  outside 


PLAY   AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL   FACTOR  1 23 

of  itself.  To  illustrate:  The  amateur  base-ball  player 
reaches  his  aim  in  the  activity  itself,  while  the  professional 
player  has  an  end  beyond  the  game,  namely,  the  salary 
upon  which  he  lives.  Both  may  play  with  great  skill, 
both  may  thoroughly  enjoy  the  game,  both  may  desire  to 
win,  but  the  latter  has  a  purpose,  an  end,  which  is  outside 
of  and  which  follows  the  activity.  Therefore  the  former 
engages  in  play,  the  latter  in  work.  The  same  activity 
may  be  work  or  play  according  to  the  motive  of  it.  The 
child  drearily  runs  the  scales  in  piano  practice.  He  is  at 
work  because  the  end  is  in  the  future  when  he  will  be  able 
to  play  with  skill  the  same  scales  woven  into  wonderful 
harmonies  to  his  own  and  his  hearers'  delight.  The  actor 
carries  his  part  on  the  stage  and  finds  pleasure  for  himself 
while  he  pleases  his  audience.  To  him  it  is  work,  because 
later  his  salary  will  be  his  reward.  To  his  audience  it  is 
play.  They  have  spent  an  hour  in  witnessing  the  pro- 
duction, and  the  end  for  which  they  came  has  been  reached 
when  the  play  is  over. 

One  may  read  a  book  for  the  enjoyment  it  affords.  Let 
the  same  book  be  read  in  order  to  write  a  review  of  it  or 
pass  an  examination,  and  the  latter  becomes  work  because 
the  end  was  not  reached  in  the  reading,  while  the  former 
was  recreation  or  play.  I  may  take  a  walk  for  the  mere 
enjoyment  of  it.  But  if  I  walk  to  my  place  of  business  in 
order  to  perform  the  duty  of  bread- winning,  the  walk  is 
work.  Indeed,  in  some  trades  the  mechanics  do  not  reckon 
their  time  from  the  moment  they  enter  upon  their  job,  but 
from  the  time  they  are  said  to  leave  the  shop.  It  is  the 
motive  that  governs  the  activity,  and  not  the  activity 
itself,  that  distinguishes  work  from  play. 


124  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

Purpose  of  Play.  —  Play  strengthens  all  the  powers  of 
body  and  soiil.  "It  is  the  telescope  which  lengthens  life 
and  extends  its  vision;"  and  the  longer  the  spirit  of  play  is 
retained  in  a  man's  life,  the  younger  he  remains,  the  brighter 
his  spirit,  the  happier  and  more  optimistic  he  is.  Hence 
it  should  be  encouraged  in  the  form  of  holidays  and  recre- 
ation in  the  arrangement  of  life's  plan  in  old  as  well  as  in 
yoimg.  Play  teaches  the  child  to  be  self-reliant,  and  that 
characteristic  will  best  be  brought  out  when  the  child  has 
companions  of  about  his  own  age  in  the  home  and  in 
school.  Through  play  he  learns  to  measure  his  strength 
and  skill  with  the  strength  and  skill  of  others;  he  increases 
his  powers,  thereby  acquiring  greater  agility  and  strength. 

Without  the  advantage  of  play  with  other  children 
the  child  is  likely  to  grow^  up  puny  in  body,  selfish  in 
spirit,  exacting,  overbearing,  and  self-opinionated.  Nothing 
teaches  a  boy  so  quickly  and  thoroughly  the  place  he  is 
capable  of  holding  among  his  fellows  as  contact  and  asso- 
ciation with  other  boys  in  healthful,  earnest,  hearty,  and 
suitable  play.  I  used  to  watch  a  boy  who  had  no  one  of 
his  own  age  to  play  with  during  the  earlier  years  of  his  life. 
He  was  an  intolerant  bully  and  a  general  nuisance  to  the 
whole  neighborhood.  When  he  went  to  school,  however, 
and  associated  with  other  boys,  he  soon  learned  to  know  his 
place  ;  he  found  that  the  whole  w^orld  did  not  revolve 
around  him,  and  he  became  a  fine  boy.  Play  under  right 
conditions  was  the  civilizing  and  educating  influence  that 
taught  him  the  most  important  lesson  of  life. 

Through  play  the  child  strengthens  his  muscles,  acquires 
knowledge  of  distance,  trains  the  judgment,  learns  much 
concerning  nature's  laws,   and  becomes  acquainted  with 


PLAY   AS   AN   EDUCATIONAL  FACTOR  1 25 

the  moral  principle  embodied  in  the  Golden  Rule.  Hence 
the  teacher  should  watch  over  and  direct  the  games  of  the 
playground,  as  truly  as  the  lessons  of  the  schoolroom,  as 
an  important  educational  means.  Far  more  attention 
should  be  paid  to  this  feature  of  education  than  is  usual. 
Such  games  should  be  encouraged  as  will  develop  all  the 
powers.  There  is  no  better  game  for  boys  than  base-ball. 
Ideas  of  distance  and  accuracy  of  judgment  are  incul- 
cated by  throwing  the  ball,  by  catching  ^^ flies"  in  the  field, 
and  by  attempting  to  hit  the  thrown  ball.  Skill  is  acquired 
by  the  same  means  in  throwing  and  judging  the  ball. 
Alertness  is  necessary  in  deciding  where  to  throw  the  ball 
when  fielded  in  order  to  put  out  the  opponent,  —  the  boy 
must  act  at  once  with  decision  and  accuracy.  Agility  is 
cultivated  in  running  bases,  and  in  picking  up  the  swiftly 
batted  **  grounder."  Unselfishness  is  engendered  and 
genuine  practice  of  the  Golden  Rule  by  the  necessary  team 
spirit  which  seeks  to  win  the  game  through  concentrated 
action  and  not  through  individual  effort.  Every  one 
must  do  his  best  in  the  position  he  occupies,  while  he 
works  in  concert  with  his  mates.  Nothing  puts  in  jeopardy 
the  game  in  which  a  whole  team  is  involved,  as  base- ball, 
basket-ball,  or  foot-ball,  so  much  as  self-seeking  or  jeal- 
ousy on  the  part  of  individuals.  Base-ball,  then,  may  be 
made  a  most  excellent  educational  means,  teaching  lessons 
that  nothing  in  the  schoolroom  fosters,  and  it  should  be 
sustained  by  every  school. 

Basket-ball  serves  a  similar  purpose  at  the  time  of  the 
year  when  base-ball  cannot  be  played.  For  quiet  indoor 
games  those  should  be  selected  that  furnish  sufficient  incen- 
tive and  interest  in  themselves,  and  rest  upon  no  external  in- 


126  Elementary  pedagogy 

centive.  Any  game  that  requires  a  money  stake  or  a  prize 
"just  to  make  it  interesting,"  should  be  discoimtenanced. 
If  a  game  does  not  offer  a  healthful  exercise  of  skill  and  judg- 
ment, a  stimulating  and  lively  interest  to  win  for  the  sake  of 
winning,  it  does  not  fulfil  the  conditions  prescribed. 

Indeed,  it  is  not  play,  it  is  work,  for  the  end  is  outside  of 
the  activity,  the  end  is  to  secure  the  prize  or  money  at 
stake,  and  not  the  mere  enjoyment  of  a  pleasurable  pastime. 
If  a  game  is  played  for  the  pleasure  found  in  it,  it  is  play ;  if 
the  same  game  is  played  for  a  stake,  it  is  no  longer  play, 
it  is  gambling.  For  this  reason  professional  gamblers  do 
not  select  games  like  chess  or  checkers,  which  depend 
upon  skill  and  knowledge,  but  they  prefer  dice  which 
requires  no  skill  and  which  is  quickly  decided,  or  some 
kinds  of  card  games  in  which  the  element  of  chance  plays 
a  large  part.  No  one,  on  the  other  hand,  would  long 
play  dice  for  amusement.  It  requires  an  outside  stimulus 
to  keep  up  the  interest,  and  therefore  should  be  discouraged, 
as  well  as  all  other  games  that  fail  in  themselves  to  furnish 
the  necessary  interest.  This  will  be  a  sufficient  guide  for 
parents  and  teachers  in  determining  what  games  should  be 
allowed. 

Cricket  serves  the  same  purpose  with  English  boys  that 
base-ball  does  with  ours.  Concerning  this  game,  Mr. 
Hughes  says,^  "The  discipline  and  self-reliance  on  one 
another  which  it  teaches  is  so  valuable,  I  think,  it  ought  to 
be  such  an  unselfish  game.  It  merges  the  individual  in  the 
eleven;  he  doesn't  play  that  he  may  win,  but  that  his  side 
may." 

Teachers  will  have  to  meet  the  question  of  marble-play- 

^  "School  Days  at  Rugby,"  p.  381. 


PLAY   AS   AN   EDUCATIONAL   FACTOR  1 27 

ing  among  boys.  This  game  is  harmless  if  merely  a  trial 
of  skill.  It  may  be  very  harmful  if  the  children  are  allowed 
to  play  ^^for  keeps/'  which  is  a  species  of  gambling.  With 
most  children  one  merely  needs  to  call  attention  to  the 
evil,  and  explain  its  moral  bearing.  A  most  conscientious 
Christian  gentleman  was  passing  some  boys  who  were 
playing  marbles  on  the  street.  Although  he  was  upwards 
of  sixty  years  of  age,  the  old  spirit  of  his  boyhood  came 
over  him,  and  he  asked  the  boys  to  be  allowed  to  come  into 
the  game.  He  borrowed  a  marble  from  one  of  the  boys 
with  which  he  won  another,  and  then  paid  back  his  debt. 
He  had  not  lost  his  skill,  and  soon  he  had  won  all  the  marbles 
the  boys  possessed.  And  he  put  those  marbles  into  his 
pocket  and  carried  them  home  for  his  grandson!  It  never 
occurred  to  him  that  he  had  been  gambling,  and  a  suggestion 
of  that  kind  would  have  thoroughly  shocked  him.  Boys 
should  be  taught  the  nature  of  such  a  game,  and  shown  that 
it  is  evil.  They  should  also  be  taught  that  the  intrinsic 
value  of  the  thing  played  for  does  not  change  the  principle. 

Teachers'  Part  in  Games.  —  The  teacher  may  exert  a 
most  positive  and  beneficent  influence  by  encouraging  and 
directing  the  right  kind  of  games.  This  must  be  done 
with  discretion  so  that  the  children  will  not  feel  that  he  is 
dictating  their  sports  and  hindering  a  free  exercise  of  their 
natural  right  to  play.  It  is  certain  that  a  feature  of  educa- 
tion that  cannot  be  fostered  in  the  schoolroom  can  be 
secured  on  the  playground;  and  if  the  teacher  possesses  the 
ability  to  mingle  freely  with  his  pupils  in  their  recreation, 
taking  part  with  them  at  times,  preventing  harmful  games 
and  encouraging  good  ones,  he  will  be  able  to  do  great 


128  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

good  to  his  pupils.  Besides,  he  will  discover  character- 
istics that  will  aid  him  in  discipline,  and  he  will  gain  an 
influence  over  his  pupils  which  cannot  be  gained  otherwise. 
For  in  the  hour  of  play  the  child  manifests  his  true  self. 
It  often  occurs  that  the  pupil  who  is  intractable  and  indo- 
lent in  the  schoolroom  is  the  leader  in  sports.  The  watch- 
ful teacher  may  be  able  to  discover  by  observing  such 
pupils  at  play  a  means  to  interest  them  in  their  work. 

The  child  should  be  taught  early  in  life,  to  respect  the 
property  rights  of  others;  he  should  also  be  made  to  feel 
that  no  luck  or  skill  of  his  can  justify  his  appropriating 
the  property  that  he  may  win  from  another.  The  teacher 
should  encourage  the  sports  that  develop  agility,  strength, 
alertness,  judgment,  and  accuracy.  The  educational  value 
of  the  Olympian  games  lay  in  the  nature  of  the  games 
themselves,  as  well  as  in  the  spirit  of  fairness  that  was 
cultivated.  Running,  jumping,  throwing  the  discus,  wrest- 
ling, trials  of  strength  and  endurance,  constituted  the 
earlier  Grecian  games,  and  they  produced  a  magnificent 
type  of  manhood.  The  only  material  reward  was  a  wreath 
of  laurel  placed  upon  the  victor's  brow,  and  it  was  enough. 
It  was  the  insignia  of  honors  that  endured  while  life  lasted. 
And  the  same  effect  would  follow  a  like  practice  at  the 
present  time.  Some  boys,  connected  with  the  late  Profes- 
sor Stoy's  school  at  Jena,  were  holding  their  annual  gym- 
nastic contests.  On  a  branch  of  a  neighboring  tree  were 
himg  several  laurel  wreaths,  the  only  prizes  for  which  they 
were  striving.  There  was  no  evidence  of  lack  of  interest 
because  the  prizes  carried  no  intrinsic  value.  Indeed, 
every  boy  did  his  best;  and  when  the  contest  was  over  the 
victors  were  called  forward  and  crowned  with  impressive 


PLAY   AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL    FACTOR  T29 

ceremony,  after  the  manner  of  the  Greeks  of  olden  time. 
Here  a  lesson  in  simplicity  was  inculcated;  and  through 
those  games,  and  the  simple  rewards  that  followed,  the 
most  important  lesson  that  play  teaches  was  illustrated, 
namely,  to  find  the  interest  in  the  activity  itself  and  not  in 
any  external  reward.  The  laurel  wreath  sufficiently  dis- 
tinguished the  victor,  but  did  not  serve  as  pay  for  his 
success.     Hence  it  was  play  and  not  work. 

Play  vs.  Work.  —  While  the  early  years  of  the  child  are 
devoted  to  play,  and,  as  we  have  shown,  this  natural  in- 
stinct should  be  employed  for  educational  purposes,  he 
must  be  gradually  led  to  know  that  life  has  earnest  pur- 
poses that  can  be  satisfied  only  with  work.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary that  he  gain  the  idea  that  work,  which  is  the  antithesis 
of  play,  is  uninteresting  or  unpleasant.  On  the  contrary,  it 
should  be  shown  to  the  child  that  work  at  the  proper  time  and 
of  the  right  kind  to  meet  his  stage  of  development  may  be 
extremely  interesting.  Professor  Withers  says,^  **Work 
need  never  be  irrational  servitude,  and  the  highest  forms 
of  work  admit  of  the  greatest  amount  of  self-expression, 
and,  therefore,  of  true  freedom,  reheved  from  ^the  weight 
of  chance  desires.'  Thanks,  in  a  great  measure,  to 
Froebel,  the  whole  world  is  coming  to  see  that  the  work  of 
the  little  child  must  be  delicately  adapted  to  its  stage  of 
growth,  and  must  give  full  scope  to  its  budding  instincts, 
its  love  of  muscular  development,  of  variety,  of  construc- 
tiveness,  of  living  animals,  and  plants,  of  pictures,  and  of 
cheerful  sights  and  sounds.  There  is  no  reason  why  this 
should  impair  the   seriousness   and  mental   concentration 

*  Address  before  the  Froebel  Society  of  Great  Britain. 


130  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

which  work  ought  always  to  imply.  On  the  contrary,  the 
'strangle- hold'  is  far  easier  to  get  upon  some  subject  which, 
to  begin  with,  appeals  to  the  child  nature.  So  frail  and 
wavering  is  the  Httle  child's  power  of  continuous  attention 
that  we  need  not  be  afraid  that  we  can  ever  make  work 
*  too  interesting,'  if  it  be  genuine  work,  i.e.,  energy  devoted 
to  a  definite  object." 

All  education  is  self-activity,  and  play  is  the  very  best 
means  by  which  the  child  expresses  himself,  satisfies  the 
longing  which  every  healthy  child  has  to  do  something, 
and  gives  vent  to  the  animal  spirit  within  him  which  is 
likely  to  break  out  in  some  form  of  mischief  unless  properly 
directed.  Professor  Withers  further  adds,  **It  is  of  great 
importance,  therefore,  to  bear  in  mind  that,  when  we  speak 
of  play  at  the  kindergarten  stage,  we  are  not  thinking  of 
play  in  antithesis  to  work,  but  rather  of  play  as  the  most 
convenient  name  for  the  sum- total  of  self- activity  in  the 
child.  This  self-activity  resembles  play,  in  that  it  is  pur- 
sued for  its  own  sake  and  as  the  expression  of  inner  impulse; 
but  it  resembles  work  in  so  far  as  it  is  quite  earnestly  carried 
on,  and  is  the  most  strenuous  form  of  action  of  which  the 
child  is,  at  that  stage,  capable. 

''When  once  the  antithesis  has  arisen,  and  the  child's 
eyes  are  opened  to  know  good  and  evil,  then  the  child  must 
be  accustomed  from  time  to  time,  in  gradually  lengthening 
periods,  to  attack  the  task  with  entire  attention,  and  not 
take  its  mind  off  until  that  task  has  been  completed." 

Play  does  not  cease  with  Childhood.  —  It  may  be  well 
to  state  that  the  educative  value  of  play  does  not  cease 
with  childhood,  though  at  this  period  it  is  of  greatest  im- 


PLAY   AS   AN   EDUCATIONAL   FACTOR  131 

portance.  If  it  is  ''the  great  telescope  which  lengthens 
life  and  extends  its  vision,"  it  may  well  be  utilized  even 
till  old  age.  It  may  be  called  ''recreation,"  but  it  is  the 
same  principle.  Its  purpose  will  be  less  to  stimulate 
growth,  and  it  need  not  be  so  constant  or  occupy  so  large 
a  proportion  of  one's  time,  —  the  healthy  adult  should  work 
a  large  part  of  the  time,  —  but  it  is  needed  for  rest,  for 
change,  for  reviving  the  spirit,  for  the  renewing  of  youth. 
Hence  a  reasonable  amount  of  recreation,  particularly  out 
of  doors  with  clean  games,  in  society,  with  books  intended 
to  amuse  or  entertain,  is  absolutely  essential  to  all.  The 
devoting  of  a  part  of  the  time  to  holidays  and  half- holidays, 
in  which  the  people  give  themselves  up  to  wholesome  out- 
of-door  life  and  sport,  not  only  conduces  to  health  and 
longevity,  but  also  brightens  life,  adds  to  its  happiness, 
and  fits  for  its  more  serious  duties.  Every  life  will  be  better 
if  some  time  is  devoted  to  recreation,  in  which  there  is 
utter  freedom  from  the  cares  of  business  or  household, 
and  in  which  the  individual  yields  himself  up  pure  enjoy- 
ment. When  he  again  engages  in  work  it  will  be  per- 
formed with  greater  zest,  and  life  will  be  made  brighter 
and  better  because  of  the  interruption.  Recreation  gives 
new  courage  to  the  spirit  and  recuperates  the  body. 

Playthings.  —  Closely  allied  to  play  itself  are  the  imple- 
ments employed  in  it,  or  playthings.  They,  too,  have  their 
educational  lesson.  Professor  Paulsen  says,  "It  may 
safely  be  stated  that  the  real  value  of  a  plaything  is  gener- 
ally in  inverse  ratio  to  its  cost."  It  is  not  the  expensive 
toy  that  pleases  the  child  most  by  any  means.  The  elegant 
china  doll  that  costs  several  dollars  does  not  please  the  baby 


132  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

as  much  as  the  rag-baby  that  costs  nothing,  or  the  stuffed 
cat  or  rabbit  that  costs  only  a  few  cents.  The  child  loves 
the  plaything  that  it  can  handle  and  do  with  as  it  pleases. 
Therefore  it  is  foolish  to  spend  large  sums  for  the  toys  of 
young  children.  A  father  purchased  for  his  three-year- 
old  son  a  beautiful  music  box  costing  twenty-five  dollars. 
When  the  child  was  placed  by  the  music  box  he  would 
turn  the  crank  and  produce  music.  One  day  he  discovered 
a  nail- hole  in  the  casing  of  the  door,  and  he  stuck  the  crank 
into  the  hole  and  turned  it  with  as  much  glee  as  when  it 
was  inserted  in  the  music  box.  The  fact  is,  the  only  part 
of  the  plaything  that  interested  him  was  the  crank,  which 
could  have  been  bought  for  a  cent.  Doubtless  at  a  later 
period  he  might  have  appreciated  the  costly  music  box, 
but  at  that  time  it  was  a  total  misfit. 

The  nurseries  of  many  American  homes  are  crowded 
with  toys,  and  the  greatest  evil  is  not  the  expense.  Chil- 
dren should  learn  to  be  unselfish,  full  of  gratitude  to 
those  who  sacrifice  for  their  happiness,  and  satisfied  with 
few  things.  There  is  nothing  more  beautiful  in  children 
than  genuine  simplicity,  which  is  perfectly  natural  with 
them  and  should  not  be  destroyed.  Such  lavishness  in 
gifts  teaches  children  to  expect  everything  they  see,  it 
makes  spendthrifts  of  them,  and  does  not  inculcate  the 
lesson  of  economy.  The  country  boy  is  not  accustomed 
to  many  playthings.  Many  of  them  he  must  make  for 
himself.  If  he  must  get  boards  and  saw  out  the  rimners 
and  other  parts  of  his  sled,  if  he  must  nail  them  together,  and 
fit  some  iron  hoops  that  he  has  taken  from  an  old  barrel 
upon  the  runners  for  shoes,  he  has  an  appreciation  of  the 
result  far  greater  than  the  boy  whose  father  purchases  him 


PLAY   AS   AN   EDUCATIONAL   FACTOR  133 

a  beautiful  "Greyhound.''  He  certainly  gets  just  as  much 
fun  out  of  it,  and  is  far  better  off  from  having  constructed 
it  himself. 

"But  what  has  this  to  do  with  the  teacher  and  the 
school?"  may  be  asked.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  whole  duty  of  education  is  not  committed  to  the  school. 
The  home  has  its  part  to  perform,  and  it  should  learn  the 
lesson  herein  taught.  But  the  school  also  has  something 
to  do  with  this  question,  for  the  "  Schoolmaster  is  the  high- 
priest  of  the  future."  The  school,  more  than  any  other 
factor,  is  shaping  the  future,  is  laying  the  foundations  of 
future  civilization,  is  forming  the  ideals  that  are  to  govern 
the  world.  Hence  the  school  should  raise  its  voice  for  sim- 
plicity, for  economy,  for  unselfishness,  for  gratitude,  thank- 
fulness, and  sincere  appreciation;  and  in  teaching  simplicity 
in  the  instruments  of  play,  it  is  inculcating  some  of  the  very 
fundamentals  of  morality  and  forming  right  ideals. 

Play  and  playthings,  therefore,  are  most  important  edu- 
cational agencies,  which  should  be  employed  for  the  phys- 
ical, intellectual,  and  moral  development  of  the  child.  And 
there  are  no  other  agencies  that  can  wholly  take  their  place 
in  this  great  work. 

Summary 

I.  Play  is  activity  or  effort  that  finds  its  end  within  itself; 
work  finds  its  end  outside  of  itself.  Play  should  he  utilized 
in  developing  certain  educational  features  that  cannot  he 
taught  in  the  regular  school  exercises^  while  it  fortifies  other 
lessons  that  can  he  taught  in  the  school.  Recreation  is 
essential  to  the  well-heing  of  adults  as  well  as  children.  Play- 
things should  be  few  in  number  and  inexpensive. 


134  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

II.  The  object  of  play  in  connection  with  education  is  to 
utilize  fhe  natural  activity  of  the  child  so  as  gradually  to 
lead  him  to  the  power  of  concentration  and  self- direction  as 
exemplified  in  work.  The  interest  of  play  must  be  found  in 
the  activity  itself  rather  than  in  something  external.  Such 
plays  should  be  encouraged  as  develop  strength,  agility, 
alertness,  judgment,  decision,  accuracy,  generosity,  unself- 
ishness, and  the  spirit  of  fairness. 


CHAPTER  X 

HABITS   AND    THEIR   FORMATION 

References.  —  White,  School  Management;  MacCunn,  The 
Making  of  Character;  Coler,  Character  Building;  Smith,  System- 
atic Methodology;  Patrick,  Elements  of  Pedagogics;  MacVicar, 
Principles  of  Education;  Spencer,  Education;  Shearer,  Morals  and 
Manners;  Adler,  The  Moral  Instruction  of  Children. 

Habits  and  their  Formation.  —  The  character  of  a  per- 
son is  shown  by  the  fixed  habits  he  possesses.  If  the 
habits  are  good,  the  character  is  good ;  if  the  habits  are  bad, 
the  character  is  bad.  Most  of  the  activities  of  life  are  con- 
trolled by  habit,  and  he  that  is  established  in  his  habits  is 
good  or  bad  according  to  the  nature  of  those  habits.  The 
individual  may  be  relied  upon  just  in  proportion  to  the 
fixedness  of  his  habits.  Is  he  habitually  punctual,  truth- 
ful, honest,  polite,  men  who  have  dealings  with  him  recog- 
nize these  qualities  and  are  able  to  depend  upon  him. 
Hence  the  importance  of  definite,  consistent,  well-directed, 
and  persistent  effort  on  the  part  of  the  educator  in  training 
the  child  to  possess  good  habits.  Every  function  of  the 
school  —  the  thoroughness  with  which  the  lessons  are 
taught,  the  steady  and  wise  carrying  out  of  disciplinary 
measures,  the  leading  into  good  conduct,  the  whole  relation- 
ship between  teacher  and  pupil  —  should  aim  to  form  and 
establish  good  habits. 

Rosenkranz  says,^  '*  Education  seeks  to  transform  every 
particular  condition  so  that  it  shall  no  longer  seem  strange 

^  "Philosophy  of  Education/*  p.  30. 
135 


136  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

to  the  mind  or  m  any  wise  foreign  to  its  nature.  This 
identity  of  the  feeHng  of  self  with  the  special  character  of 
anything  done  or  endeavored  by  it,  we  call  habit  (Gewohn- 
heit  —  customary  activity,  habitual  conduct,  or  behavior. 
Character  is  a  *  bundle  of  habits*).  It  conditions  formally 
all  progress;  for  that  which  is  not  yet  become  a  habit,  but 
which  we  perform  with  design  and  an  exercise  of  our 
will,  is  not  yet  a  part  of  ourselves." 

What  is  Habit?  —  Habit  may  be  defined  as  the  tendency 
to  repeat  the  same  act  in  the  same  way  without  conscious 
reflection.  The  most  of  the  acts  of  life  are  controlled  by 
habit.  This  is  true  in  our  physical,  intellectual,  moral, 
and  spiritual  activities,  as  a  moment's  reflection  will  show. 

I .  Physical  Habits.  —  We  learn  to  stand  upright,  to 
place  one  foot  before  the  other,  to  walk  as  a  matter  of  habit. 
Any  change  in  gait,  as  when  one  is  trained  to  march  as  a 
soldier,  or  when  one  walks  on  the  deck  of  a  rolling  ship, 
or  when  one  attempts  to  keep  step  with  another  who  takes 
unusual  strides  —  long  or  short  —  occasions  discomfort 
until  one  becomes  accustomed  to  the  change,  forms  a  new 
habit.  The  steps  of  a  staircase  are  usually  constructed 
about  eight  inches  in  height,  and  we  ascend  and  descend 
with  comfort;  but  let  the  height  be  changed  and  we  stumble 
and  are  more  easily  wearied.  An  illustration  of  the  effect 
of  peculiar  stairs  is  found  in  ascending  the  leaning  tower 
of  Pisa.  As  one  circles  the  upper  side  of  the  tower,  one 
passes  from  stair  to  stair  without  really  ascending,  while 
on  the  lower  side  the  ascent  becomes  the  more  pronounced 
owing  to  the  peculiar  situation  created  by  the  leaning  of  the 
structure.     The    stairs    were    all    made    originally    of   the 


HABITS   AND    THEIR    FORMATION  137 

same  height,  but  the  settHng  of  the  tower  on  one  side  caused 
the  curious  effect  described. 

Eating  also  becomes  a  physical  habit.  The  carrying  of 
the  food  to  the  mouth,  the  use  of  table  implements,  the 
following  of  stated  times  for  meals  are  habits.  One  of 
the  most  important  lessons  that  mothers  must  teach  their 
children  is  to  expect  their  food  at  regular  periods.  When 
the  time  comes  for  the  meal  we  are  inconvenienced  if  there 
is  delay,  not  so  much  because  we  are  in  need  of  food  as 
because  the  regular  habit  is  being  infringed  upon.  Chil- 
dren are  also  trained  to  regularity  in  sleep,  and  the  adult 
becomes  accustomed  to  rise  at  a  certain  hour.  If  the 
necessities  of  his  vocation  demand,  a  man  can  acquire  the 
habit  of  awakening  at  any  hour  of  the  night  or  day  without 
much  inconvenience. 

Very  much  of  the  comfort  and  happiness,  as  well  as  the 
usefulness  of  life,  depends  upon  the  possession  of  right 
physical  habits,  and  it  is  certain  that  good  health  is  largely 
dependent  upon  them.  A  good  example  of  the  acquirement 
of  physical  habits  and  their  effect  upon  character,  is  found 
in  the  soldier.  A  new  recruit  enters  the  army,  crooked  and 
bent  from  the  hardship  of  farm  or  shop  life.  He  is  drilled 
in  all  the  details  of  walking,  carrying  the  body  firm  and 
erect,  handling  his  gun,  keeping  his  clothing  and  accou- 
trements in  perfect  order,  and  in  all  the  requirements  oi 
military  duty.  He  is  closely  inspected  and  punished  foi 
infractions  of  rules  in  all  of  these  respects.  He  is  trained 
to  march  and  perform  the  various  military  evolutions  at 
sharp  word  of  command,  and  he  may  not  choose  what  he 
will  do,  but  must  obey  promptly  and  implicitly.  What  is 
the    result    of   this    training?     Good   physical    habits    ar( 


138  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

formed,  and  the  slouching,  uncouth,  awkward  recruit 
learns  to  carry  himself  like  a  gentleman.  The  effect  upon 
his  moral  life  is  also  marked,  for  in  learning  control  of  his 
body  he  gains  in  that  self-respect  which  is  essential  to 
moral  living.  It  is  the  acquirement  of  right  habits  that 
has  wrought  the  transformation,  and  he  has  received  the 
kind  of  training  that  was  needed  in  his  educational  develop- 
ment. 

2.  Intellectual  Habits.  —  Keenness  of  observation,  accu- 
racy of  comprehension  followed  by  the  power  of  accurate 
statement,  vividness  and  richness  of  imagination,  logical 
order  in  thinking,  may  become  habit.  Indeed,  the  pur- 
pose of  intellectual  training  is  to  secure  these  habits.  The 
child  learns  to  read,  to  pronounce  distinctly,  to  enunciate 
sounds  and  syllables,  to  give  proper  inflections  and  modu- 
lations, to  grasp  meanings  as  a  matter  of  habit.  He  cannot 
become  a  good  reader  until  these  things  are  habitual. 
Just  so  in  writing,  the  child  becomes  so  habituated  to  the 
forming  of  letters  and  words  that  he  no  longer  thinks  of 
the  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  he  wTites  unconsciously,  that  is, 
from  habit.  The  skilled  accountant  runs  up  the  long 
columns  of  figures  without  a  thought  of  them,  and  the 
child  must  be  drilled  in  arithmetical  work  until  the  relations 
of  numbers  become  so  familiar  to  him  that  he  does  not 
have  to  stop  and  think  them  out.  Certainly  not,  so  far  as 
the  simpler  combinations  are  concerned.  The  study  of 
history  has  but  little  value  if  it  does  not  train  to  habits  of 
research,  of  weighing  events  to  determine  their  importance 
in  the  development  of  civilization,  and  of  noting  the  effects  of 
the  deeds  of  men  and  of  events  in  shaping  human  destiny. 
And  literature  fails  of  its  purpose  if  it  does  not  create  a 


HABITS    AND    THEIR    FORMATION  139 

taste  and  establish  a  love  for  the  good  and  pure  things  that 
men  have  written.  The  purpose  of  each  and  every  study 
in  the  curriculum,  from  nature  study  in  the  primary  class 
to  higher  mathematics,  language,  literature,  history,  and 
science  in  the  most  advanced  university  work,  is  to  estab- 
lish correct  intellectual  habits. 

Even  memory,  so  often  neglected  in  modern  methods 
of  instruction  and  school  requirements,  should  be  trained 
so  that  committing  accurately  poems,  texts,  and  formulas 
may  become  easy  because  memorizing  has  become  a  fixed 
habit. 

3.  Moral  Habits.  —  It  is  surely  the  business  of  the 
school  to  inculcate  those  moral  habits  in  the  pupils  which 
are  so  essential  to  well-ordered  and  successful  life.  Pro- 
vided moral  balance  has  not  been  established,  the  individ- 
ual not  only  fails  to  attain  an  ideal  education,  but  he  also 
becomes  positively  dangerous  to  society,  the  more  danger- 
ous because  of  the  keenness  of  intellect  which  makes  him 
the  more  acute  in  wrong- doing  and  escaping  punish- 
ment. Proper  intellectual  culture  is  also  moral  culture, 
for  the  marvel  of  beauty,  symmetry,  and  perfection  of 
God's  handiwork  as  revealed  in  nature  study,  the  exact- 
ness of  mathematics  and  science,  the  unfolding  of  the 
facts  of  history,  and  the  study  of  pure  literature,  cannot 
fail  to  exert  a  wonderful  moral  influence  upon  the  child, 
if  the  teacher  is  alive  to  his  opportunity.  So,  too,  the  very 
thoroughness  required  in  study,  and  the  perseverance 
demanded  of  the  pupil  in  mastering  tasks,  must  have  a 
moral  bearing. 

But  there  are  abundant  opportunities  for  instilling  moral 
ideas  and  establishing  moral  habits  in  the  daily  routine 


I40  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

of  school  duties,  and  in  the  exercise  of  discipHne.  Punctu- 
ality and  regularity  of  attendance,  neatness  in  schoolwork, 
tidiness  of  person,  promptness  in  obedience  and  in  the 
discharge  of  duty,  faithfulness  in  meeting  school  require- 
ments, honesty  in  the  attitude  towards  tasks  imposed, 
such  as,  examinations,  tests,  daily  work,  etc.,  consideration 
for  the  rights  of  others,  both  in  the  schoolroom  and  on  the 
playground,  regard  for  public  property,  and  respect  for 
law,  are  among  the  many  moral  lessons  that  the  school 
should  teach.  In  many  homes  there  is  neither  the  ability 
nor  the  inclination  to  teach  these  important  lessons;  there- 
fore not  only  a  great  responsibility,  but  also  a  boundless 
opportunity,  is  afforded  the  school  to  train  children  into 
abiding  and  well-ordered  moral  habits. 

"  Sow  a  thought  and  reap  a  deed, 
Sow  a  deed  and  reap  a  habit, 
Sow  a  habit  and  reap  character, 
Sow  character  and  reap  destiny." 

4.  Religious  Habits,  —  There  are  certain  habits  that 
may  be  classed  as  religious,  such  as,  regular  church  attend- 
ance, reading  the  scriptures,  stated  hours  of  devotion, 
reflection  upon  spiritual  themes,  and  a  recognition  of 
God's  providences  and  acts  of  mercy.  The  mother  who 
teaches  her  young  child  to  kneel  at  his  bedside  and  repeat 
a  little  prayer  each  night  before  he  goes  to  sleep  is  forming 
a  habit  that  is  likely  to  influence  his  whole  life.  He  may 
not  understand  the  meaning  of  the  words  he  utters,  or 
comprehend  why  he  does  it,  but  it  is  of  untold  importance 
in  that  it  early  teaches  him  to  love  and  obey  God,  in  whom 
he  lives,  moves,  and  has  his  being.     Such  a  habit,  early 


HABITS   AND    THEIR   FORMATION  141 

formed,  often  clings  to  a  person  all  his  life,  and  proves  a 
restraint  as  well  as  a  blessing.  It  often  lays  the  founda- 
tion for  the  consecration  of  self  when  the  maturer  years  of 
understanding  are  reached. 

Requiring  children  to  attend  upon  and  participate  in 
the  ordinances  of  the  church,  forms  a  religious  habit  that 
they  are  not  likely  to  break  away  from  in  later  life.  Such 
habits  also  act  as  safeguards  in  the  hour  of  temptation; 
indeed,  they  will  save  from  many  temptations.  Reading 
from  God^s  Word  and  reflection  upon  it  may  become  so 
much  a  habit  as  not  only  to  influence  the  thought,  but  also 
to  mold  the  life  of  the  individual.  The  old-time  practice 
of  daily  taking  down  the  family  Bible,  reading  a  chapter 
therefrom,  and  kneeling  in  prayer,  —  parents,  children,  and 
the  whole  household,  bowing  in  humble  devotion  while  the 
father  lifted  a  petition  to  the  eternal  throne,  —  was  an  edu- 
cational means  for  which  no  substitute  has  been  found,  and 
the  effects  of  which  are  not  lost  during  a  whole  lifetime. 
Through  this  means,  through  the  Sunday  school,  through 
church  attendance,  through  committing  texts  of  scripture, 
and  through  the  contemplation  of  God's  goodness,  habits 
of  thought  are  formed  that  are  likely  to  influence  the  des- 
tiny of  the  child  so  trained,  and  to  lead  him  to  a  life  of 
benevolence  and  usefulness. 

The  whole  child  must  be  educated  ;  and  therefore,  while 
we  establish  his  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  habits, 
we  must  also  find  means  somehow  and  somewhere  to 
complete  the  ideal  of  perfect  manhood  and  train  the  reli- 
gious side  also.  Upon  this  last  point  we  shall  enter  into 
further  discussion  in  another  chapter. 


142  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

Choice  of  Habits.  —  Thus  far  we  have  considered  habits 
whose  formation  is  largely  under  the  direction  of  another 
person,  —  a  parent  or  a  teacher.  If  this  work  has  been 
well  done  in  early  life,  it  is  likely  that  permanent  good 
habits  will  be  chosen  in  later  life.  But  there  comes  a 
period  of  definite  personal  choice,  when  the  individual 
must  decide  for  himself  whether  he  will  form  this  habit 
and  reject  that.  The  boy  sees  his  father  and  other  men 
using  tobacco,  and  decides  that  he  will  learn  to  use  it. 
He  doubtless  thinks  it  manly,  and  this  is  the  motive  that 
influences  him,  for  certainly  it  is  not  pleasant  for  him  in 
the  beginning.  Quite  early  in  life,  before  he  has  contracted 
the  habit,  he  should  be  taught  the  evil  effect  of  tobacco  upon 
a  growing  boy,  first  upon  his  physical  being,  and  later,  as 
an  inevitable  consequence,  upon  his  moral  nature.  Care- 
ful and  exhaustive  studies  show  that  the  tobacco  habit  with 
boys  not  only  destroys  their  physical  health  and  their 
intellectual  power,  but  also  their  moral  sensibilities.  It  is 
folly  to  tell  him  that  the  use  of  tobacco  in  itself  is  wicked, 
for  it  is  not  true.  Moreover,  his  father,  perhaps,  and  many 
good  men  whom  he  loves  and  respects,  who  have  his  confi- 
dence, and  who,  he  believes,  would  not  willingly  do  wrong, 
use  it.  Why  should  he  not  follow  their  example  ?  For  the 
simple  reason  that  it  would  surely  harm  him,  and  does 
not  harm  them.  There  are  many  things  that  a  man  may 
do  that  a  child  may  not  do,  and  the  sooner  this  lesson  is 
impressed  upon  the  child  the  better.  The  father  may  sit 
up  late  nights,  belong  to  a  club,  engage  in  many  enter- 
prises that  are  perfectly  proper,  but  would  not  be  proper 
for  his  son  until  he  too  is  a  man.  This  does  not  mean  that 
the  parent  may  be  indifferent  as  to  his  example  before  his 


HABITS   AND    THEIR   FORMATION  143 

children.  Far  from  it;  but  it  simply  means  that  a  practice 
of  the  parent,  which  in  itself  is  not  wrong,  may  not  be  in- 
dulged in  by  the  child  if  harmful  to  him,  on  the  ground 
that  his  parent  indulges  in  it. 

A  perfectly  frank  and  clear  explanation  of  this  distinc- 
tion should  be  made  by  the  father  to  his  son.  A  German 
father,  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  called  his  seventeen-year- 
old  son  to  him  one  day,  and  saidj  "Fritz,  I  hear  that  you 
are  beginning  to  smoke.  Is  it  true?''  "Yes,"  responded 
the  son.  "Now,  my  boy,"  continued  the  father,  "you 
are  still  too  young  to  acquire  the  habit  of  smoking.  You 
have  not  yet  attained  your  growth,  and  I  want  you  to  wait 
two  or  three  years  longer.  It  will  be  harmful  to  you  now." 
"Very  well,  father,"  replied  the  boy,  and  that  was  the  end 
of  his  smoking  at  that  time.  The  father  did  not  think  it 
necessary  to  apologize  for  using  tobacco  himself,  or  hold 
himself  up  as  a  warning  or  example  of  the  evil  of  tobacco ; 
for  he  was  an  inveterate  smoker;  it  did  not  occur  to  either 
that  the  boy  had  a  right  to  do  a  thing  because  the  man  did 
it.  The  use  of  tobacco  per  se  was  not  condemned,  it  was 
simply  shown  to  be  bad  for  a  growing  boy.  That  confi- 
dence between  father  and  son  should  exist  which  will 
enable  the  former  to  advise  frankly,  and  the  latter  to  accept 
such  advice  without  stopping  to  question  its  wisdom. 

The  child  should  be  shown  the  right  and  wrong  of  an 
act,  and  then  be  encouraged  to  choose  for  himself,  especially 
as  he  approaches  maturity.  The  father  cannot  always  be 
with  the  son,  and  therefore  he  must  be  trained  to  make 
proper  choice.  Dr.  McClure  touches  upon  this  point  very 
forcibly  in  speaking  of  the  life  of  Joshua  under  the  text, 
"Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve."     He  says,^  "As 

*  "The  Voluntary  Adoption  of  Good  Habits." 


144  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

Joshua  became  aware  of  his  approaching  death,  there 
appears  to  have  come  to  him  the  realization  of  a  new  idea. 
It  was  this,  that  it  mattered  not  how  good  the  habits  of  the 
people  then  were,  the  permanent  value  of  those  habits,  for 
themselves  and  their  children,  largely  lay  in  their  conscious 
and  voluntary  adoption  of  those  habits,  if  possible,  through 
some  form  alact.  He  seems  to  have  become  convinced 
that  unless  he  could  bring  the  people  to  face  the  moral 
issues  involved  in  their  good  habits  and  then  persuade 
them  to  adopt  anew,  or  adopt  for  the  first  time,  by  a  dis- 
tinct act  of  choice,  those  good  habits  would  not  be  a  very 
portion  of  their  being,  and  consequently  would  not  have  a 
lasting  control  over  them.  To  Joshua  the  supreme  benefit 
of  a  good  moral  habit  was  in  its  intelligent  adoption  by  the 
person  for  himself.  Physical  habits  formed  unconsciously 
have  little,  if  any,  tendency  to  change:  the  person  who  is 
left-handed,  or  the  person  who  is  right-handed,  need  have 
no  anxiety  about  a  change  in  the  habit  of  using  his  hand. 
The  left-handed  man  will  continue  to  be  left-handed  whether 
he  continues  to  reside  in  his  birthplace,  or  moves  into  an 
entirely  different  environment;  the  right-handed  man  will 
be  right-handed  at  forty  years  of  age  as  well  as  at  twenty. 
Physical  habits  once  practiced  for  a  considerable  time  are 
not  subject  to  unconscious  change. 

"  But  moral  habits  are  subject  to  change.  If  those  moral 
habits  are  superficial,  touching  only  the  outward  features 
of  our  lives,  they  may  be  put  off  as  easily  as  we  put  off 
a  garment  when  we  come  into  a  different  atmosphere.  They 
may  even  slide  off,  as  a  cloak  slides  off  when  the  air  gradu- 
ally becomes  warmer  and  the  cloak  becomes  loosened  little 
by  little.     Superficial  moral  habits  sometimes  glide  away 


HABITS   AND    THEIR   FORMATION  145 

from  a  man  or  youth  almost  before  he  is  aware  that  they 
are  gone  —  and  only  some  new  experience,  or  forced  con- 
trast of  his  present  with  past  conduct,  makes  him  aware  that 
his  habits  have  left  him. 

"Moral  habits  to  be  permanent  must  be  a  part  of  one's 
inner  self.  They  must  be  a  man's  very  being,  so  that  they 
go  with  him  where  he  goes,  and  stay  with  him  where  he 
stays.  This  can  only  be  through  a  voluntary  adoption  of 
such  habits;  the  intelligence  must  consider  them  and  be- 
lieve in  their  value,  and  then  the  will  must  engage  to  do 
them.  Thus  they  become  inworked  into  the  interior  life. 
When  this  is  done  they  are  no  longer  like  a  cloak,  they  are 
rather  like  our  life-blood,  an  abiding  and  constituent  ele- 
ment of  our  being.'' 

Further  he  adds,  ''Yes,  good  habits  are  a  benefit.  They 
are  always  to  be  taught  as  such.  Blessed  is  the  child  who 
has  had  them  about  him  from  infancy  up;  they  put  him  in 
a  safe  atmosphere,  and  hold  him  back  from  many  injurious 
surroundings.  But  a  human  life  is  not  like  a  twig  or  a 
stream.  Bend  the  twig,  and  the  tree  grows  as  an  exterior 
force  has  determined.  Start  the  stream  from  the  summit  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  toward  the  Atlantic  or  toward  the 
Pacific,  and  you  may  be  sure  what  the  trend  of  its  whole 
course  will  be.  But  it  is  not  so  with  human  life.  ' Choice' 
comes  in  —  a  factor  that  neither  twig  nor  stream  can  know. 
Solomon  may  be  well  trained  in  boyhood,  and  still  go  to 
pieces  in  maturity.  Africaner  may  be  hurtfuUy  trained 
in  boyhood,  and  still  reach  a  splendid  character  in  matu- 
rity. And  all  because  of  this  wonderful  power  that  we 
name  'the  power  of  the  will,'  whereby  we  choose  and  deter- 
mine whether  the  old  habits  shall  hold  us." 


146  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

It  is  not  enough  that  the  child  shall  be  trained  to  good 
habits.  This  is  external.  He  must  be  brought  **to  a 
personal  adoption  of  good  habits  by  a  clear,  decisive,  ever- 
lasting choice  of  his  own;  and  the  child  must  realize 
that  beyond  all  he  has  ever  heard  concerning  the  benefit 
of  temperance,  integrity,  self-control^  he  is  called  upon 
to  choose  for  himself  what  his  habits  of  life  shall  be  with 
reference  to  these  virtues. 

*'Here  there  are  two  elements:  one  the  necessity  for  in- 
formation, and  the  other  the  necessity  for  choice.  Joshua 
made  the  people  see  what  was  involved  in  choice  —  a  clear- 
cut  separation  of  themselves  from  hurtful  things ;  and  then 
he  said,  *  Choose,  choose,  choose,'  and  when  a  choice  has 
been  made  to  record  it  in  some  open  pledge  that  the  world 
may  know  the  stand  taken,  and  that  the  individual  himself 
may  feel  that  a  final  decision  has  been  made  and  duly 
recorded." 

There  must  be  first  instruction  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
habit  to  be  formed,  its  meaning  and  consequences,  and 
then  the  child  should  be  led  to  form  it  of  his  own  free  choice. 
And  this  instruction  and  this  choice  should  be  brought 
about  early  in  life  before  evil  habits  are  yet  in  possession 
and  while  the  child  is  yet  plastic  and  easily  molded. 

It  has  been  said  that  *^  Habits  are  built  into  the  reflex 
nervous  system  by  the  will;  but  we  have  to  rid  ourselves 
of  many  habits;  this,  too,  is  the  work  of  the  will;  but  it  is 
harder  to  unlearn  than  to  learn  a  habit,  for  the  will  has  to 
contend  with  the  inherent  tendency  to  repeat  what  it  has 
once  done.  Here  is  seen  the  value  of  education;  the  edu- 
cated man  can  see  reasons  for  unlearning  a  bad  habit,  or 
acquiring  a  new  one,  —  reasons  that  may  powerfully  influ- 


HABITS   AND    THEIR   FORMATION  147 

ence  his  will.  Life  consists  in  action;  to  live  aright  we 
must  have  good  habits,  for  habits  direct  our  acts.  Teachers 
well  know  they  can  do  much  more  for  the  pupil  who  has 
good  habits;  that  is,  good  home  training  to  start  with.  A 
vast  number  are  under  bondage  to  habit,  few  are  free  men. 
.  .  .  Soma  lie  simply  from  habit;  many  are  truthful  from 
habit;  as  we  are  what  we  are  more  from  training  than  from 
education,  the  wise  teacher  is  always  training  into  good 
habits  or  training  out  bad  ones;  he  who  simply  presents  a 
fact  is  a  poor  teacher." 

The  Changing  of  Habits.  —  In  order  successfully  to 
eradicate  a  bad  habit  it  must  be  supplanted  by  a  good  one. 
Thus  the  habit  of  laziness  is  changed  to  one  of  dihgence  by 
introducing  those  activities  that  interest  the  child;  that  of 
lying  to  the  habit  of  truthfulness  by  showing  the  beauty  of 
truth  and  the  sin  of  lying,  and  following  this  by  encourag- 
ing the  telling  of  truth;  that  of  slovenliness  to  that  of  neat- 
ness and  cleanliness  by  furnishing  examples  of  cleanly 
children  and  extolling  the  merit  of  cleanly  habits;  tardi- 
ness and  irregularity  are  to  be  supplanted  by  punctuality 
and  regularity,  by  showing  the  evil  to  the  individual,  as 
well  as  the  interference  with  the  rights  of  others  as  the 
result  of  these  evils,  and  by  making  these  virtues  an  essen- 
tial requirement  of  school  life;  the  habit  of  generosity  and 
thoughtfulness  for  others  in  place  of  selfishness  through 
exhibiting  the  blessedness  and  joy  of  service,  and  of  giving 
without  expectation  of  recompense.  And  so  all  the  vices 
should  be  supplanted  by  corresponding  virtues,  and  in  this 
way  right  habits  may  be  established  and  wrong  ones  eradi- 
cated. 


148  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

Every  child  is  strongly  influenced  in  his  habits  by  his 
comrades  and  his  environment.  When  it  becomes  clear 
that  a  child  is  not  amenable  to  the  influences  that  form 
good  habits  and  good  character,  that  he  is  a  danger  to 
others,  he  must  be  removed  from  contact  with  them,  else 
he  may  be  instrumental  in  establishing  evil  habits  in  those 
who  are  innocent.  Smith  remarks,  *^  A  habit  is  established 
by  repeatedly  performing  an  act,  and  it  is  destroyed  by 
refraining  from  the  performance  of  the  act.  In  no  other 
way  can  a  habit  be  established,  and  in  no  other  way  can 
a  habit  that  has  been  formed  be  removed."  It  may 
be  added  that  great  assistance  is  rendered  to  one  who 
is  endeavoring  to  rid  himself  of  evil  habits  by  leading  him 
to  abandon  the  associations  that  foster  those  habits,  and 
by  substituting  other  associations  that  foster  opposite 
habits.  Thus  the  inebriate  must  abandon  the  saloon  and 
the  company  of  other  inebriates  and  seek  the  influence  of 
the  temperance  society  and  the  church,  and  of  sober  people. 
There  is  little  hope  of  permanent  reform  unless  the  bad 
habits  are  supplanted  by  corresponding  good  ones. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  chapter  the  general  kinds  of 
habits  —  physical,  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  —  were 
treated.  *^  Education  deals  altogether  with  the  formation 
of  habits.  For  it  aims  to  make  some  condition  or  form  of 
activity  into  a  second  nature  for  the  pupil.  But  this  in- 
volves, also,  the  breaking  up  of  previous  habits.  This 
power  to  break  up  habits,  as  well  as  to  form  them,  is  neces- 
sary to  the  freedom  of  the  individual."  ^  Since  the  forma- 
tion of  habits  is  so  important  to  education,  it  may  be  profit- 
able to  consider  the  fundamental  habit  of  obedience. 

*  Dr.  Harris.     Note  in  Rosenkranz'  "  Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  35. 


HABITS    AND    THEIR    FORMATION  149 

■  Obedience.  —  The  child  should  be  educated  to  implicit, 
unquestioning  obedience  from  the  outset.  The  parent  first 
of  all,  and  later  the  teacher,  owes  it  to  the  child  to  teach 
him  this  lesson  because  so  much  of  his  happiness  and  use- 
fulness as  an  individual  depends  upon  it.  When  this 
habit  has  been  formed,  parental  and  school  discipline  will  be 
reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  question  naturally  arises. 
How  early  should  its  formation  begin?  When  should  the 
parent  expect  the  child  to  obey  ?  For  surely  the  lesson  must 
be  learned  long  before  the  child  goes  to  school.  In  general 
it  may  be  said  that  the  formation  of  the  habit  of  obedience 
should  begin  as  soon  as  the  child  is  able  to  understand 
what  is  required  of  him,  and  this  is  when  he  is  only  a  few 
months  old.  A  concrete  example  will  illustrate  the  point. 
A  young  father  was  brought  face  to  face  with  the  problem 
of  securing  obedience  from  his  eighteen-months-old  boy. 
He  assured  himself  thoroughly  that  the  child  understood 
what  was  required  of  him,  and  that  an  act  of  his  was  a 
clear  case  of  disobedience.  He  punished  the  boy  until 
complete  submission  was  secured,  although  it  required 
fully  half  an  hour  before  the  child  yielded.  He  believed  that 
this  was  the  first  step  towards  the  formation  of  the  habit 
of  obedience  which  would  only  need  be  followed  by  steady 
and  firm  treatment.  I  met  that  father  sixteen  years  later, 
and  inquired  as  to  the  success  of  the  form  of  discipline 
which  he  so  early  inaugurated.  He  replied  that  from  the 
time  of  the  first  struggle  in  which  the  child  was  brought 
to  obedience  till  that  time,  when  he  was  nearly  eighteen 
years  old  and  about  to  enter  college,  he  had  never  offered 
any  serious  resistance  to  parental  discipline.  He  also  said 
that  the  same  plan  had  been  followed  with  his  three  younger 
children  with  a  similar  result. 


150  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  formation  of  the  habit  in 
children  of  impHcit  obedience  early  in  life  would  save  parents 
many  hours  of  anxiety  and  doubt,  and  would  also  guarantee 
to  the  children  themselves  a  greater  degree  of  real  happi- 
ness and  freedom.  It  is  natural  that  the  parent  should 
exercise  authority  and  that  the  child  should  obey,  and  the 
same  is  the  true  relation  between  teacher  and  pupil.  The 
child,  being  weak,  must  rely  upon  one  who  is  strong,  and 
this  is  true  in  the  intellectual  as  well  as  in  the  physical 
world.  And  this  reliance,  this  obedience,  must  be  confid- 
ing, unquestioning,  absolute.  The  child  must  obey  because 
one  who  is  wiser,  stronger,  older,  and  possesses  authority 
gives  the  command.  Such  command  need  not  be  harsh 
and  must  not  be  unreasonable.  The  reason  need  not  be 
given  to  the  child  until  he  is  old  enough  to  comprehend  it. 
It  destroys  discipline  to  allow  the  child  to  stop  and  argue. 
When  he  is  old  enough  to  comprehend  the  reason  it  may 
be  given  him,  but  it  will  hardly  be  necessary  if  the  early 
training  has  inspired  confidence  in  the  wisdom,  justice,  and 
love  of  the  parent.  ''Charles  (four  years  old)  does  not 
know  why  he  should  obey  me  any  more  than  I  should  obey 
him,"  said  a  father  to  me.  I  have  watched  that  boy  for 
the  past  ten  years  since  that  time,  and  he  has  given  his 
father  a  great  deal  of  trouble  simply  because  he  had  not 
been  taught  at  the  outset  the  law  of  obedience. 

The  great  lesson  of  divine  government  is  obedience,  and 
the  better  that  lesson  is  learned,  the  more  confidence  is 
there  in  the  Father's  everlasting  love  and  kindness.  "Hath 
the  Lord  as  great  delight  in  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices, 
as  in  obeying  the  voice  of  the  Lord?  Behold,  to  obey  is 
better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken,  than  the  fat  of  rams," 


HABITS   AND    THEIR   FORMATION  151 

is  the  rebuke  of  the  prophet  Samuel  to  Saul  when  the 
latter  excused  his  disobedience  on  the  ground  that  the 
spoils  of  war,  saved  contrary  to  divine  command,  were  to 
be  offered  as  sacrifices.  And  the  parent,  in  his  relation  to 
his  children,  stands  as  the  representative  of  Jehovah. 

Instead  of  destroying  the  independence,  the  spirit  of 
freedom,  which  Americans  love  to  inculcate  in  their  children, 
it  gives  them  true  ideas  of  freedom,  —  the  freedom  that 
respects  the  rights  of  others;  that  submits  to  the  necessary 
regulations  of  the  family  and  the  school,  and  to  the  laws 
of  the  state ;  that  finds  its  highest  ideals  met  by  submission 
to  rightful  authority;  that  expresses  itself  through  perfect 
self-control.  The  man  who  disobeys  the  laws  of  the  State 
and  becomes  a  criminal,  is  outside  of  the  law,  or  an  out- 
law. He  must  be  deprived  of  his  freedom  because  he  fails 
to  comply  with  the  laws  of  society.  Even  if  he  is  not  incar- 
cerated in  jail,  he  is  not  free,  because  he  is  in  constant  fear 
of  the  vengeance  of  the  law,  and  in  dread  of  apprehension 
by  its  officers.  Thus  he  is  never  free.  But  he  who  lives 
in  obedience  to  law  is  free  indeed.  No  policeman  watches 
his  domicile,  and  no  detective  dogs  his  footsteps.  Greatest 
freedom,  therefore,  is  enjoyed  by  those  who  live  within  the 
letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  law.  This  is  as  true  with  the 
child  in  the  home,  the  pupil  in  the  school,  who  obeys 
the  necessary  regulations,  as  it  is  with  the  citizen  under  the 
laws  of  the  state.  Obedience  to  constituted  authority 
alone  gives  true  freedom,  and  therefore,  in  training  the 
child  to  the  habit  of  obedience,  he  is  being  prepared  for 
his  most  precious  birthright  of  American  citizenship.  It 
is  the  lack  of  this  training  in  early  life  that  is  responsible 
for  the  growing  disrespect  for  law  and  disregard  for  authority 


152  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

which  may  well  awaken  alarm  in  the  heart  of  every  patriot. 
And  the  only  way  to  correct  these  tendencies  is  by  early 
implanting  the  habit  of  obedience. 

With  the  fundamental  habit  of  obedience  thoroughly 
established,  the  fixing  of  other  right  habits  in  the  home  and 
in  the  school  becomes  a  natural  and  an  easy  matter.  For 
the  child  is  ready  to  heed  the  admonitions  against  habits 
that  are  evil,  and  follow  directions  concerning  those  that 
are  good.  Without  the  habit  of  obedience  there  is  no  cer- 
tainty that  other  good  habits  will  be  formed. 

Punishment.  —  Some  form  of  corrective  means  must 
at  times  be  resorted  to  in  securing  the  habit  of  obedience 
and  of  other  habits.  Hence  a  discussion  of  punishment 
must  be  connected  with  this  theme.  **  Punishment,"  says 
Rosenkranz,^  **as  an  educational  means  is,  nevertheless, 
essentially  corrective,  since,  by  leading  the  youth  to  a 
proper  estimation  of  his  fault  and  a  positive  change  in  his 
behavior,  it  seeks  to  improve  him.''  By  punishment  we 
mean  a  penalty  imposed  by  some  one  in  authority  as  a 
consequence  of  some  wrong  done.  It  must  not  be  lightly 
or  thoughtlessly  inflicted.  "  Only  when  all  other  efforts  have 
failed  is  punishment,  which  is  the  real  negation  of  the  error, 
the  transgression,  the  vice,  justifiable.  Punishment  inten- 
tionally inflicts  pain  on  the  pupil,  and  its  object  is,  by  means 
of  this  sensation,  to  bring  him  to  reason,  —  a  result  which 
neither  our  simple  prohibition,  our  explanation,  nor  our 
threat  of  punishment,  has  been  able  to  reach."  ^ 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  purpose  of  punishment 
in  the  school  is  quite  different  from  that  of  the  State.  In 
the  State  the  object  of  punishment  is  to  satisfy  justice,  to 

^  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  39.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  38. 


HABITS   AND    THEIR    FORMATION  153 

serve  as  a  warning,  to  act  as  a  restraint  upon  others,  to  be 
retributive.  The  State  deals  with  those  who  have  arrived 
at  the  age  of  personal  accountability,  and  it  holds  them 
answerable  for  their  acts.  Such  attitude  on  the  part  of  the 
State  is  necessary  in  order  to  secure  a  wholesome  respect 
for  law,  and  in  order  to  prevent  crime.  In  the  home  and 
the  school,  however,  the  transgressor  is  immature,  and 
largely  irresponsible  for  his  deeds,  and  therefore  the  object 
of  punishment  is  corrective  and  reformatory  rather  than 
retributive.  The  State  also  acts  in  this  spirit  in  dealing 
with  its  juvenile  criminals  in  that  it  sends  them  to  reforma- 
tories instead  of  prisons.  It  must  be  said  that  the  recent 
tendency  in  prison  methods,  even  with  adult  criminals,  is 
to  seek  their  reform  as  well  as  to  satisfy  justice. 

This  leads  us  to  say  in  the  next  place  that  punishment 
in  the  case  of  children  should  be  individual  rather  than 
serve  as  an  example  for  others.  What  is  for  the  good  of 
the  individual  child  for  a  particular  offense,  the  nature  of 
which  is  clearly  understood  by  him,  is  the  problem,  and 
his  individual  offense  should  be  in  mind  in  the  punishment 
inflicted.  Doubtless  others  will  be  restrained  by  the  knowl- 
edge that  such  punishment  has  been  inflicted,  but  the  effect 
upon  them  should  not  enter  into  the  consideration.  Again, 
it  will  be  noticed  that  this  is  an  entirely  different  motive 
from  that  which  must  control  the  State  in  dealing  with  its 
mature  offenders.  The  motives  of  the  child,  his  home 
training,  his  environment,  his  temperament,  the  tempta- 
tions that  have  beset  him,  the  circumstances  connected 
with  the  wrong,  must  all  be  taken  into  account.  It  must 
never  be  forgotten  that  he  is  a  child.  He  must  be  treated 
with  a  view  to  his  reformation  and  the  formation  of  the 


154  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

habit  of  right  action  and  obedience  to  law.  The  teaclier 
must  have  no  fixed  penalties  for  given  offenses,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  State,  but  must  consider  each  individual  case,  tak- 
ing into  account  the  considerations  above  enumerated,  and 
then  administer  such  punishment  as  will  meet  the  partic- 
ular case  in  hand.  The  State,  with  certain  limitations 
within  the  discretion  of  its  courts,  fixes  the  penalties  fot 
each  crime.  The  school  cannot  do  this  because  the  pur- 
pose of  its  punishments  is  so  essentially  different,  as  has 
been  shown,  and  because  it  deals  with  immature  beings. 

Again,  the  punishment  with  children  should,  as  far  as 
possible,  he  the  natural  sequence  of  the  offense.  This  prin- 
ciple was  laid  down  by  Basil  the  Great  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, by  Rousseau  in  his  theory  of  training  Emile,  and 
emphasized  by  Herbert  Spencer.  Mr.  Spencer  discusses 
this  point  as  follows:^  *^When  a  child  falls,  or  runs  its  head 
against  the  table,  it  suffers  a  pain,  the  remembrance  of 
which  tends  to  make  it  more  careful  in  the  future;  and  by 
an  occasional  repetition  of  like  experiences,  it  is  disciplined 
into  a  proper  guidance  of  its  movements.  If  it  lays  hold  of 
the  fire-bars,  thrusts  its  finger  into  the  candle-flame,  or 
spills  boiling  water  on  any  part  of  its  skin,  the  resulting 
burn  or  scald  is  a  lesson  not  easily  forgotten.  So  deep 
an  impression  is  produced  by  one  or  two  such  events,  that 
afterward  no  persuasion  will  induce  it  again  to  disregard 
the  laws  of  its  constitution  in  these  ways. 

**Now  in  these  and  like  cases.  Nature  illustrates  to  us 
the  simplest  way,  the  true  theory  and  practice  of  moral 
discipline.^  .  .  .  Observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  in  bodily 

*  "Education,"  p.  172. 

^  The  discussion  is  too  long  for  these  pages  and  I  can  only  quote  excerpts. 
The  reader  is  advised  to  study  the  whole  passage  in  Spencer's  "Education." 


HABITS   AND    THEIR    FORMATION  155 

injuries  and  their  penalties  we  have  misconduct  and  its 
consequences  reduced  to  their  simplest  forms.  Though, 
according  to  their  popular  acceptations,  right  and  wrong 
are  words  scarcely  applicable  to  actions  that  have  none 
but  direct  bodily  effects;  yet  whoever  considers  the  matter 
will  see  that  such  actions  must  be  as  much  classifiable 
under  these  heads  as  any  other  actions.  .  .  .  Note,  in  the 
second  place,  the  character  of  the  punishments  by  which 
these  physical  transgressions  are  prevented.  Punishments, 
we  call  them,  in  the  absence  of  a  better  word;  for  they  are 
not  pimishments  in  a  literal  sense.  They  are  not  artificial 
and  unnecessary  inflictions  of  pain,  but  are  the  beneficent 
checks  to  actions  that  are  essentially  at  variance  with  bodily 
welfare  —  checks  in  the  absence  of  which  life  would  be 
quickly  destroyed  by  bodily  injuries.  It  is  the  peculiarity 
of  these  penalties,  if  we  must  so  call  them,  that  they  are 
nothing  more  than  the  unavoidable  consequences  of  the 
deeds  which  they  follow:  they  are  nothing  more  than  the 
inevitable  relations  entailed  by  the  child's  actions. 

"Is  it  not  manifest  that  as  *  ministers  and  interpreters  of 
Nature,'  it  is  the  function  of  parents  to  see  that  their 
children  habitually  experience  the  true  consequences  of 
their  conduct  —  the  natural  reactions ;  neither  warding 
them  off,  nor  intensifying  them,  nor  putting  artificial  con- 
sequences in  place  of  them?'' 

As  to  the  effect  of  this  method  the  author  further  adds, 
"Among  the  advantages  of  this  method  we  see  —  First, 
that  it  gives  that  rational  comprehension  of  right  and 
wrong  conduct  which  results  from  actual  experience  of  the 
good  and  bad  consequences  caused  by  them.  Second, 
that  the  child   suffering  nothing    more    than   the   painful 


156  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

effects  brought  upon  it  by  its  own  wrong  actions,  must 
recognize  more  or  less  clearly  the  justice  of  the  penalties. 
Third,  that,  recognizing  the  justice  of  the  penalties,  and 
receiving  those  penalties  through  the  workings  of  things, 
rather  than  at  the  hands  of  an  individual,  its  temper  will 
be  less  disturbed;  while  the  parent  occupying  the  com- 
paratively passive  position  of  taking  care  that  the  natural 
penalties  are  felt,  will  preserve  a  comparative  equanimity. 
And  fourth,  that  mutual  exasperation  being  thus  in  a 
great  measure  prevented,  a  much  happier,  and  a  more 
influential  state  of  feeling  will  exist  between  parent  and 
child.'' 

As  the  teacher  in  a  large  measure  stands  in  the  place  of 
the  parent,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  apply  the  same  line  of 
reasoning  to  the  punishments  of  the  school.  If  the  general 
principles  above  outlined  are  followed,  school  punishment 
will  be  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Rosenkranz,  in  speaking 
of  the  kinds  of  punishment,  says,^  "Generally  speaking, 
we  must  take  into  consideration  the  sex  and  age:  (i)  some 
kind  of  corporal  punishment  is  most  suitable  for  children, 
(2)  isolation  for  older  boys  and  girls,  and  (3)  punishment 
based  on  the  sense  of  honor  for  young  men  and  women." 

The  strong  tendency  of  modern  times  is  to  abolish  cor- 
poral punishment  from  the  schools,  and  many  states  have 
enacted  laws  forbidding  it.  There  is  no  question  that  this 
tendency  has  had  a  most  humanizing  influence  upon  the 
schools.  The  old-time  brutality  that  characterized  the 
schools  has  gone  forever.  It  is  certain  that  the  teacher 
who  cannot  control  a  school  without  frequent  resort  to 
severe  discipline  is  lacking  in  the  most  essential  requisite 

*  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  40. 


HABITS   AND    THEIR   FORMATION  157 

of  the  good  disciplinarian.  The  best  discipline  is  that 
which  remains  in  the  background,  which  controls  without 
noise  or  friction,  and  in  which  the  pupils  quietly  and 
almost  unconsciously  govern  themselves.  That  children 
can  be  accustomed  to  this  kind  of  self-government  is  beyond 
question.  When  frequent  punishments  must  be  resorted 
to,  whatever  be  their  nature,  the  supreme  end  of  school 
government  has  not  been  attained.  When  the  pupils  have 
learned  to  obey  and  to  exercise  self-control  and  self-govern- 
ment, and  when  this  has  become  a  habit,  the  end  of  disci- 
pline has  been  reached  and  the  teacher  can  devote  himself 
to  the  real  purpose  of  the  school,  that  of  instruction. 


Summary 

I.  Habit  is  the  tendency  to  repeat  an  act  in  the  same  way 
without  conscious  reflection.  The  character  of  the  indi- 
vidual is  outwardly  exhibited  by  the  nature  of  his  habits; 
hence  it  is  the  function  of  education  to  superintend  the 
formation  of  the  child's  habits.  Bad  habits^  to  be  effectu- 
ally eradicated,  must  be  supplanted  by  good  ones.  As  the 
child  becomes  mature  he  should  first  be  taught  the  nature  of 
a  habit,  and  then  encouraged  to  choose  right  ones, 

II,  Obedience  is  a  fundamental  habit  which  should  be 
formed  early  in  life.  It  is  the  natural  relation  between 
parent  and  offspring,  teacher  and  pupil,  and  is  necessary  to 
the  real  happiness  and  genuine  freedom  of  the  child.  Prop- 
erly inculcated  in  the  home,  the  school,  and  the  State,  it 
secures  that  respect  for  law  which  is  essential  to  patriotic 
citizenship. 


IS8  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

III.  Punishment  is  a  penalty  imposed  by  some  one  In 
authority  as  a  consequence  of  a  wrong  act.  With  children 
it  should  he  corrective  and  reformatory  rather  than  retribu- 
tive^ individual  rather  than  as  an  example  for  others,  and  it 
should  be  the  natural  sequence  of  the  oflense.  Its  ultimate 
purpose  is  to  establish  the  habit  of  self-control,  and  self- 
direction. 


CHAPTER   XI 

EDUCATIONAL  LIMITATIONS 

References.  —  Smithy  Walks  and  Talks;  Harden,  Pushing  to 
the  Front;  Helen  Keller,  Story  of  My  Life;  Shearer,  Morals  and 
Manners;  Lamson,  Laura  Bridgman;  Seeley,  Foundations  of  Edu- 
cation; Barbe,  Going  to  College. 

Education  is  Emancipation.  —  The  process  of  educa- 
tion is  a  process  of  emancipation.  The  normal  child  is 
born  into  the  world  entirely  ignorant  of  its  wonders,  its 
beauties,  and  the  vast  field  of  knowledge  it  embraces. 
But  he  possesses  the  capacity  to  learn,  not  everything  it 
is  true,  but  many  things,  and  therefore  marvelous  possi- 
bilities lie  before  him.  He  has  no  knowledge  to  begin 
with,  and  is  weak  and  powerless;  and  yet,  in  a  few  years  a 
world  of  knowledge  may  be  mastered  by  him,  and  the 
forces  of  the  whole  realm  of  nature  may  be  subject  to  his 
command.  What  a  measureless  expanse  lies  between  the 
helpless  infant  just  opening  his  eyes  upon  a  great  world, 
and  a  Bacon,  a  Newton,  a  Gladstone,  an  Aristotle!  The 
child  is  in  the  bondage  of  ignorance,  and  every  act  of  curi- 
osity, every  exercise  of  hand,  foot,  or  mind,  every  ques- 
tion asked,  every  impulse  expressed  is  a  struggle  toward 
freedom  from  that  bondage.  For  intelligence  is  freedom, 
and  he  who  is  in  the  bonds  of  ignorance  is  a  slave  indeed. 

The  education  of  every  child  must  start  with  the  pre- 
sumption that  he  possesses  capacity.  No  device  of  teach- 
ing, no ,  well-conceived  method,  no  arrangement  of  the 
educative  material,  no  zeal,  or  wisdom,  or  skill,  or  enthu- 

159 


l6o  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

siasm  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  can  avail  if  the  pupil  does 
not  possess  the  capacity  to  learn.  Dr.  Marble  writes, 
"There  is  a  presumption  at  the  start  that  the  child  has 
brains.  It  is  safe,  also,  to  assume  that  he  has  used  that 
organ  to  some  extent,  and  in  more  directions  than  one, 
before  coming  to  school;  and  he  must  be  compelled  to  use 
it  again,  and  to  use  it  constantly.  This  presumption  will 
enable  the  teacher  to  skip  many  of  the  methods  and  to 
lighten  and  shorten  the  work."  He  speaks  of  the  various 
methods  employed,  and  adds,  "I  am  not  objecting  to  these 
ingenious  methods  at  the  beginning;  but  they  ought  to  be 
dropped  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  so  that  the  child 
may  be  compelled  to  employ  his  own  activity  —  to  use  his 
brain;  for,  let  it  not  be  forgotten,  the  child  is  presumed  to 
have  brains." 

Only  in  such  directions  as  the  child  has  capacity  can  he 
be  educated.  Some  possess  capacity  for  music,  some  for 
art,  some  for  handiwork,  some  for  business,  some  for 
invention,  some  for  investigation,  some  for  literary  pursuits, 
and  each  individual  can  attain  highest  efficiency  and  success 
only  in  the  field  in  which  nature  has  endowed  him.  No 
amount  of  training  can  avail  to  secure  marked  results  where 
such  endowment  is  wanting.  Of  course  the  teacher  must 
not  be  too  ready  to  pronounce  the  child  who  may  be  slow 
to  respond  as  incapacitated.  Rapid  physical  development, 
material  unsuited  to  the  period  of  the  child's  life,  false 
method  of  presentation  may  cause  the  child  to  appear  dull 
and  incapable  of  certain  work.  Child  study  has  discovered 
many  of  the  causes  of  arrested  development  and  led  to  the 
adoption  of  means  of  correcting  mistakes  and  meeting 
irregularities  in  intellectual  growth.  And  still  greater 
results  are  to  be  expected  in  this  field  of  investigation. 


EDUCATIONAL    LIMITATIONS  l6l 

Sometimes  the  material  is  offered  at  the  wrong  time. 
Mrs.  Wilson  gives  us  a  case  in  point  with  one  of  her  own 
children.  She  writes/  ^^We  had  a  child  whose  mind 
balked  in  arithmetic.  We  lost  all  patience  —  so  much 
easier  it  is  to  preach  than  to  practice  in  the  matter  of 
patience.  Then  common  sense  and  consistency  flashed  the 
thought  upon  me:  *This  child  is  of  at  least  ordinary 
intelligence;  I  am  surely  of  ^x/ra- ordinary  patience  in 
educational  matters;  we  must,  therefore,  be  attempting 
unnatural  things.'  On  the  spot  I  said  to  the  child: 
^  There!  Close  your  book.  You  need  have  no  more  to 
do  with  arithmetic  for  one  year.  We'll  see  if  you  won't 
grow  to  that!      We'll  try  a  rotation  of  crops.' 

*^We  were  given  grace  (which  I  think  was  quite  remark- 
able) to  adhere  to  that  decision,  and  when  at  the  end  of 
the  year,  the  child  went  again  about  her  arithmetic,  we 
were  dehghted  and  inconsistently  amazed  to  observe  the 
naturalness  and  ease  with  which  she  skipped  along,  making 
not  the  slightest  difficulty  over  the  particular  subject  on 
which  she  had  stumbled  so  vexatiously.  And  that  child, 
at  a  later  date,  performed  some  quite  unusual  feats  in 
mathematics,  which  I  cannot  help  fancying  she  would 
never  have  done  if  she  had  continued  to  be  nagged  instead 
of  being  set  free." 

Dulness  not  Incapacity.  —  Again,  a  child  may  be  natur- 
ally slow,  not  dull,  but  a  type  of  mind  that  grasps  the 
truth  only  with  difficulty,  but  often,  as  a  compensation,  holds 
what  is  once  grasped  with  remarkable  tenacity.  A  super- 
ficial  examination   may   lead   the    teacher   to    think    that 

*  "Pedagogues  and  Parents,"  p.  183. 


l62  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

capacity  is  lacking,  when  it  is  simply  a  slow  unfolding. 
The  morning  glory  unfolds  its  petals  almost  at  the  first 
burst  of  sunlight  and  exposes  its  brilliancy  to  the  world; 
the  calla  lily  requires  days  to  reach  the  fulness  of  its  wonder- 
ful grace  and  exquisite  beauty.  So  it  often  is  with  minds 
that  are  slow  in  unfolding;  when  once  they  reach  the  com- 
pleteness of  their  development,  they  exhibit  power,  strength, 
and  sometimes  even  brilliancy.  Patience  must  be  exercised 
in  discovering  the  presence  or  absence  of  capacity. 

Even  if  there  be  lack  of  capacity  in  some  particular 
direction,  it  by  no  means  sets  one  down  as  an  imbecile. 
The  late  Colonel  Parker  used  to  say,  "  So  far  as  music  is  con- 
cerned, I  am  an  idiot.''  And  yet,  he  did  more  to  influence 
elementary  education  in  this  country  than  any  one  since 
Horace  Mann.  General  Grant  remarked,  ^' There  are  only 
two  tunes  that  I  know:  one  is  *  Yankee  Doodle,'  and  the 
other  isn't."  Wellington,  Goldsmith,  James  Watt,  An- 
thony TroUope,  and  Sir  Walter  Scott  were  incapable  of 
meeting  many  of  the  requirements  of  the  school  course. 
Marden  remarks,*  "Give  every  boy  and. girl  a  fair  chance 
and  reasonable  encouragement,  and  do  not  condemn  them 
because  of  even  a  large  degree  of  downright  stupidity ;  for 
many  so-called  good-for-nothing  boys,  blockheads,  num- 
skulls, dullards,  or  dunces,  were  only  boys  out  of  their 
places,  round  boys  forced  into  square  holes." 

Thackeray  says,  **Let  us  people  who  are  so  uncom- 
monly clever  and  learned,  have  a  great  tenderness  and 
pity  for  the  folks  who  are  not  endowed  with  the  prodigious 
talents  which  we  have.  I  have  always  had  a  regard  for 
dunces,  —  those  of  my  own  school  days  were  among  the 

»  "Pushing  to  the  Front,"  p.  86. 


EDUCATIONAL    LIMITATIONS  163 

pleasantest  of  the  fellows,  and  have  turned  out  by  no  means 
the  dullest  in  life;  whereas,  many  a  youth  who  could  turn 
off  Latin  hexameters  by  the  yard,  and  construe  Greek 
quite  glibly,  is  no  better  than  a  feeble  prig  now,  with  not  a 
pennyworth  more  brains  than  were  in  his  head  before  his 
beard  grew." 

But  when  it  becomes  evident  that  capacity  for  a  certain 
thing  is  lacking  in  a  child,  school  life  should  not  be  made 
a  burden  to  him  by  insisting  that  he  take  work  which  he  has 
no  power  to  grasp.  George  Combe  said,  in  speaking  of 
mathematics,  *'I  can  speak  on  this  subject  the  more  decid- 
edly from  being  myself  very  deficient  in  this  faculty,  not- 
withstanding my  exertions  to  cultivate  it.  Arithmetic  has 
always  been  to  me  a  profound  mystery,  and  the  mastery 
of  the  multiplication  table  an  insurmountable  task.  I 
could  not  now  tell  you  how  many  eight  times  nine  are  with- 
out going  to  work  circuitously  and  reckoning  by  means  of 
the  tens,  and  yet  for  seven  years  I  studied  arithmetic. 
This  deficiency  has  been  the  occasion  of  much  trouble  to 
me.  I  could  understand  everything  relating  to  accounts, 
but  had  always  to  employ  clerks  to  perform  calculations. 
This  faculty  in  me  is  in  fact  idiotic."  And  yet,  he  was  a 
great  scholar,  anthropologist,  and  lecturer. 

With  the  possession  of  capacity,  all  things  are  possible 
to  the  human  mind.  Illustration  of  this  is  found  in  the 
many  instances  of  young  men  who  have  been  handicapped 
by  lack  of  means  and  by  other  unfavorable  circumstances, 
and  yet  have  overcome  all  obstacles  and  achieved  success. 
The  most  remarkable  instance  of  this  in  modern  times  is 
the  case  of  Helen  Keller,  who,  though  deprived  of  seeing 
and   hearing,    the   two   most   important   avenues   of  com- 


164  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

munication  with  the  external  world,  burst  the  fetters 
that  bound  her,  prepared  for  and  passed  through  college, 
and  obtained  a  breadth  of  knowledge  surpassing  that  of 
most  young  people  of  her  age.  Although  handicapped  in 
the  means  of  obtaining  knowledge,  she  overcame  the 
obstacles  because  she  possesses  capacity.  It  shows  what 
can  be  accomplished  by  one  determined  to  succeed,  even 
though  placed  under  extraordinary  limitations,  and  her 
case  should  therefore  serve  as  an  inspiration  to  others. 
Indeed,  it  proves  that  possession  of  capacity  is  a  far  more 
valuable  heritage  than  wealth,  than  **  blue  blood, "  or  even 
than  the  senses  of  seeing  and  hearing,  however  desirable 
these  things  may  be. 

Self-Activity.  —  But  no  amount  of  zeal  or  skill  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher,  no  approved  method,  no  superior 
instruction,  no  choice  of  material,  no  employment  of  cir- 
cumstance, environment  or  mechanical  means,  however 
essential  all  these  may  be,  can  avail  unless  the  self-activity 
of  the  pupil  can  be  aroused.  Froebel  lays  great  stress 
upon  the  child's  self-activity;  Herbart  upon  educative 
instruction  ( Erziehende-Unterricht ) .  Inspector  Hughes 
makes  a  most  vivid  comparison  between  the  conceptions 
of  these  two  great  educators.^ 

''Both  Herbart  and  Froebel  studied  the  child  in  order 
to  lay  down  a  system  of  education  that  would  help  to  ennoble 
man,  and  enable  him  to  work  out  his  highest  destiny. 
They  were  fully  in  accord  in  regard  to  the  true  aim  of 
education.  Both  made  the  development  of  moral  char- 
acter the  great  purpose  of  all  education,  and  their  study  of 

*  Educational  Review^  Vol.  X,  p.  240. 


EDUCATIONAL   LIMITATIONS  165 

the  child  was  made  to  find  the  surest  way  to  reach  this 
desired  end.  There  was  a  radical  difference,  however,  in 
their  attitude  toward  the  child.  Herbart  studied  the  child 
to  find  the  best  that  could  be  done  for  it;  Froebel  studied 
it  to  learn  how  it  could  be  aided  in  working  out  its  own 
best  development.  Herbart  magnified  the  work  of  the 
teacher;  Froebel  magnified  the  work  of  the  child.  Her- 
bart made  instruction  and  Froebel  made  self-activity  the 
source  and  cause  of  growth  in  knowledge  and  character. 
.  .  .  FroebePs  educational  system  rests  broadly  on  two 
great  laws :  the  law  of  unity,  and  the  law  of  self-activity.  .  .  . 
Froebel  believed  that  the  child  has  within  him  a  self-active 
soul,  an  element  of  divinity,  the  selfhood  or  individuality  of 
the  child,  and  this  develops  by  being  put  forth  in  gaining 
a  knowledge  of  his  environment,  and  in  performing  the 
duties  pertaining  to  social  relationships.  These  opinions 
led  him  to  discover  his  law  of  spontaneity  or  self- activity, 
which  he  made  the  underlying  principle  of  all  his  develop- 
ing and  teaching  process  in  the  kindergarten  and  in  the 
school.  Herbart  studied  the  child  to  mold  it;  Froebel 
studied  it  to  guide  it  in  its  growth.  Herbart  studied  the 
child  as  a  philosopher;  Froebel  studied  it  as  a  sympathetic 
friend.  .  .  .  Herbart  saw  the  need  of  control  much  more 
clearly  than  the  need  of  freedom ;  Froebel  saw  the  harmony 
between  freedom  and  control  Herbart  made  instruction 
the  basis  of  virtue;  Froebel  made  morality  depend  on  true 
living  in  the  home  and  in  the  school,  on  the  awakening  of 
the  ideal  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  sensual,  and  on  the  recog- 
nition of,  and  reverence  for,  the  life  principle  in  and  behind 
nature.  Herbart  made  will  result  from  action;  Froebel 
made  action  result  from  will.     Self-activity  developed  the 


l66  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

will  according  to  Froebel,  but  will  increased  in  power  is 
the  result  of  its  exercise  in  causing  creative  self-activity." 

Doubtless  the  truth  lies  between  these  two  positions. 
Left  absolutely  to  his  own  self-activity,  the  child  would 
make  little  progress,  nor  would  the  race  progress.  The 
child  would  move  in  a  circle,  would  not  be  able  to  utilize 
the  results  of  the  world's  intellectual  advancement,  would 
fail  to  begin  where  others  have  left  off,  and  would  be 
imable  to  avail  himself  of  the  experience  and  knowledge 
that  others  have  gained.  He  must  be  directed  in  his 
activity,  and  through  wise  and  systematic  instruction  be 
inducted  into  the  wisdom  that  the  world  has  already 
attained.  On  the  other  hand,  to  depend  entirely  on  instruc- 
tion, to  expect  that  through  the  superior  knowledge,  skill, 
and  enthusiasm  of  the  teacher,  education  may  be  secured, 
is  equally  futile.  Only  when  wise  and  suitable  instruction 
directs,  systematizes,  and  stimulates  the  child's  activity 
will  the  end  be  reached.  The  truth,  then,  lies  between 
the  extreme  Froebelian  and  the  radical  Herbartian  view. 

The  true  method  will  employ  both  of  these  ideas,  —  it 
will  stimulate  self-activity  in  a  child,  without  which  he  will 
acquire  nothing,  and  it  will  lead  and  direct  that  activity  by 
means  of  instruction.  The  child  must  think  and  act  for 
himself,  and  the  teacher  must  never  attempt  to  do  for  him 
what  he  can  do  for  himself.  But  left  entirely  to  himself, 
he  will  fail  to  make  systematic  prQgress,  he  will  waste  effort 
in  doing  over  again  what  has  long  since  been  done;  hence 
the  necessity  of  instruction. 

Self-Employment.  —  Following  closely  upon  the  idea  of 
self-activity    is    that    of    self-employment.     The    child    is 


EDUCATIONAL    LIMITATIONS  l6^ 

naturally  active.  This  activity  at  first  shows  itself  in 
various  kinds  of  play.  We  have  seen  how  play  may  be 
utilized  for  educational  ends  (p.  ii6).  Gradually  the  child 
must  learn  to  work,  and  if  he  never  learns  to  work,  except 
under  the  supervision  of  another,  he  will  forever  remain  a 
menial  and  a  drudge.  The  difference  between  the  man 
who  directs  and  the  one  who  is  directed  by  others,  lies  in 
their  power  of  self-employment.  The  man  who  is  placed 
over  others  as  superintendent,  must  first  have  learned  how 
to  set  himself  at  work  before  he  is  capable  of  directing  his 
subordinates.  This  is  the  chief  characteristic  of  leaders 
in  every  field,  and  it  is  the  most  important  element  of 
success  in  any  sphere  of  life.  The  school,  therefore,  finds 
here  a  most  essential  duty.  It  must  train  the  pupils  to  set 
themselves  at  work,  and  tenaciously  to  stick  to  their  tasks 
until  they  have  mastered  them.  Discipline  will  be  much 
easier  when  the  child  has  learned  how  to  employ  himself, 
when  to  keep  busy  has  become  a  habit. 

Nor  is  the  danger  of  getting  into  mischief  when  unem- 
ployed confined  to  children.  It  is  not  during  the  hours  of 
occupation  in  the  shop  or  the  factory  that  the  saloon  tempts 
men,  but  during  their  idle  hours.  Nor  is  it  the  man  who 
possesses  within  his  own  resources  the  means  of  entertain- 
ment and  employment  who  seeks  places  of  evil.  The  pro- 
prietors of  these  places  understand  human  nature  and  there- 
fore they  provide  entertainment  —  music,  cards,  and  other 
attractions.  The  best  way  to  fortify  the  youth  against  these 
allurements  is  to  establish  in  them  the  ability  to  employ 
themselves  profitably  and  entertainingly.  Provide  men  with 
this  power  and  more  will  be  done  to  close  the  saloon  than 
any  other  means  that  can  be  devised,  for  it  will  rob  the 
saloon  of  its  patrons. 


i6S  Elementary  pedagogy 

Training  to  employ  one's  self  thus  becomes  a  most 
important  duty  of  the  teacher,  because  it  equips  the  pupil 
for  success  in  life  and  establishes  a  moral  influence  that 
enables  him  to  satisfy  his  needs  through  his  own  resources, 
and  furnishes  an  outlet  for  the  expression  of  his  energies. 
Such  training  should  be  persistent  and  systematic  through- 
out childhood  imtil  the  habit  is  established.  And  if  such 
a  habit  has  become  fixed,  it  will  be  of  more  value  than  a 
knowledge  of  many  books,  than  the  learning  embraced  in 
a  whole  curriculum,  for  these  will  be  within  his  future 
mastery. 

The  home  can  materially  aid  in  securing  this  educational 
equipment  by  providing  good  books,  suitable  games,  and 
the  right  kind  of  tools.  Professor  Stoy  of  Jena  used  to  pro- 
vide a  plot  of  ground  which  was  divided  among  his  school 
boys,  each  having  a  section  which  he  was  allowed  to  plant 
with  whatever  crop  he  pleased,  care  for  as  he  would,  and 
enjoy  the  harvest  in  his  own  way.  It  furnished  a  splendid 
opportunity  for  the  boys  to  employ  themselves  in  healthful 
out-door  work,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  hope  of  future 
reward  in  the  crop  raised.  And  valuable  moral  lessons 
were  taught,  for  those  that  were  most  diligent  and  pains- 
taking reaped  the  largest  harvest,  while  those  who  were 
negligent  were  punished  with  a  limited  reward.  The 
wise  parent  who  lives  in  the  country,  will  make  use  of  the 
same  practice  with  his  children  by  giving  them  a  garden 
of  their  own  to  cultivate,  putting  into  their  charge  fowls  or 
young  animals  to  bring  up,  holding  them  responsible  for 
their  charge,  and  letting  them  have  the  increase  therefrom. 
The  many  opportunities  thus  furnished  on  the  farm,  largely 
will  account  for  the  sterling  men  and  women  it  produces, 


EDUCATIONAL   LlMtTATlONS  169 

who  are  early  trained  to  habits  of  responsibiUty  and  self- 
employment. 

Self-Control.  — 

"The  noblest  lesson  taught  by  life 
To  every  great,  heroic  soul, 
Who  seeks  to  conquer  in  the  strife, 
Is  self-control.'' 

One  of  the  best  evidences  of  an  education  is  the  power 
of  self-control.  The  cultivated  person  is  far  less  likely  to 
give  way  to  unreasoning  and  unbridled  passion  than  the 
ignorant  man.  Indeed,  want  of  power  to  hold  one's  self 
in  check  under  extraordinary  provocation  is  an  evidence  of 
lack  of  good  training.  The  person  who  has  learned  to  be 
urbane,  polite,  polished,  until  he  exercises  these  qualities 
from  force  of  habit,  exhibits  the  result  of  long  training  and 
education.  Self-control  on  the  part  of  a  person  accused 
of  crime  is  regarded  by  courts  as  an  evidence  that  he  is 
accustomed  to  being  called  before  the  bar  of  justice,  and 
is  therefore  educated  in  crime,  whereas,  perturbation  on 
the  part  of  the  accused  is  evidence  that  he  at  least  is  not  an 
old  offender,  if  not  innocent. 

If  the  purpose  of  education  is  to  establish  character,  the 
cultivation  of  self-control  should  be  an  important  function 
of  the  school  work.  The  most  salutary  means  of  training 
the  child  to  this  valuable  habit  may  be  mentioned  as  follows : 

I.  Make  him  feel  the  loss  of  love  of  those  dear  to  him, 
and  the  respect  of  those  about  him,  when  he  gives  way  to 
unbridled  anger,  to  selfishness,  or  to  other  intemperate 
actions. 


I70  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

2.  Appeal  to  his  sense  of  shame,  and  make  him  uncom- 
fortable as  a  result  of  his  wrong-doing. 

3.  When  he  is  old  enough,  appeal  to  the  fear  of  God, 
and  the  wrong  in  His  sight  of  yielding  to  passion,  as  a 
means  of  leading  him  to  abstain  from  evil  and  to  control 
himself. 

4.  Through  a  wise  and  judicious  employment  of  the 
principle  of  appeal  to  honor  as  a  means  of  discipline,  lead 
him  to  be  self-governing,  rather  than  to  depend  upon 
being  governed  by  means  of  the  watchfulness  of  the  teacher 
or  the  parent. 

5.  Teach  him  the  meaning  and  importance  of  this 
principle  and  lead  him  to  desire  to  practice  it  himself. 

6.  Give  him  the  opportunity  to  practice  self-control  upon 
all  occasions,  hold  him  responsible  for  failure  to  do  so,  and  by 
wise  and  gentle  admonitions  lead  him  always  to  do  his  best. 

A  celebrated  German  educator  who  visited  this  country 
in  1893,  as  a  royal  representative  of  educational  interests 
at  the  Columbian  Exposition,  was  struck  with  the  remark- 
able self-control  manifested  by  the  American  people. 
Said  he,  "I  was  at  the  Exposition  on  Chicago  Day  when 
750,000  people  passed  through  the  gates.  Every  trans- 
portation facility  was  taxed  to  the  uttermost.  Immense 
crowds  gathered  at  each  terminus,  patiently  and  good- 
naturedly  waiting  their  turn  to  get  into  the  cars.  I  did  not 
see  a  single  disgraceful  jam.  Why,  if  five  persons  wanted 
to  get  on  a  Berlin  street  car,  there  would  be  more  confusion 
than  I  saw  in  that  great  crowd.  It  was  the  most  remark- 
able exhibition  of  self-control  that  I  ever  saw."     Doubtless 


EDUCATIONAL    LIMITATIONS  171 

this  result  is  largely  owing  to  the  American  theory  that 
every  man  must  take  care  of  himself,  must  be  indepen- 
dent, as  against  the  German  theon^  of  paternalism,  of  con- 
trol by  those  in  authority. 

This  power  of  self-control  is  fostered  by  such  experiences 
as  those  of  Erasmus,  who  starved  himself  to  buy  Greek 
books;  by  Faraday,  who  lived  over  a  stable  and  peddled 
newspapers;  by  Lincoln,  who  read  the  Bible  and  iEsop's 
fables  by  the  light  of  a  pine  knot;  by  Franklin,  who 
told  his  landlady  to  "make  the  soup  thinner"  when  she 
informed  him  that  she  would  have  to  charge  more  for  his 
board,  and  by  many  others  who  became  great  in  spite  of 
unfavorable  circumstances. 

Material  Means  of  Education. —  There  are  certain 
material  means  that  must  be  taken  into  account  in  con- 
sidering the  limitations  of  education,  such  as,  the  time 
involved,  and  the  necessary  money.  Rosenkranz  speaks 
of  this  as  the  objective  limit  as  follows:^  ''That  the  talent 
for  certain  culture  shall  be  present  is  certainly  the  first  thing ; 
but  the  cultivation  of  this  talent  is  the  second,  and  no  less 
necessary.  But  how  much  cultivation  can  be  given  to  it, 
extensively  and  intensively  depends  upon  the  means  used, 
and  these  again  are  conditioned  by  the  material  resources 
of  the  family  to  which  one  belongs.  The  greater  and 
more  valuable  the  means  of  culture  which  are  found  in 
the  family,  the  greater  the  immediate  advantage  which  the 
culture  of  each  one  has  at  the  start.  With  regard  to  many 
of  the  arts  and  sciences,  this  limit  of  education  is  of  great 
significance.     But  the  means  alone  are  of  no  avail.     The 

^  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  48. 


172  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

finest  educational  apparatus  will  produce  no  fruit  where 
corresponding  talent  is  wanting,  while  on  the  other  hand 
talent  often  accomplishes  incredible  feats  with  limited 
means,  and,  if  the  way  is  only  once  open,  makes  itself  the 
center  of  attraction  which  draws  to  itself  with  magnetic 
power  the  necessary  means.'' 

This  interpreted,  means  that  if  there  be  the  possession 
of  talent,  and  the  determination  to  overcome  the  disadvan- 
tage of  the  lack  of  money,  a  way  can  always  be  found  to 
gain  an  education.  Abundant  illustrations  of  this  fact  are 
found  on  every  hand,  in  the  experiences  of  students,  poor  in 
this  world's  goods,  but  rich  in  energy,  determination,  and 
capacity.  Every  college  in  the  land  can  furnish  numerous 
examples  of  students  who  are  working  their  way  through 
the  course,  wholly  dependent  upon  themselves,  performing 
all  sorts  of  labor  of  hand  and  brain  in  order  to  meet  their 
expenses.  And  it  is  a  fine  comment  on  the  spirit  of  Ameri- 
can youth  that  such  students  rarely  lose  caste  among  their 
fellow  students.  This  furnishes  an  example  of  true  democ- 
racy, where  a  man  is  esteemed  for  what  he  is  and  what  he 
does,  rather  than  for  his  wealth  or  social  position.  The 
lack  of  capacity  is  an  insurmountable  obstacle  to  education ; 
but  the  lack  of  material  means  can  be  overcome  by  every 
one  who  is  determined  to  secure  an  education,  and  many 
a  man  is  better  through  being  compelled  to  bear  this 
burden.  The  noblest  fiber  of  the  individual  is  brought  to 
light  and  tested,  the  real  value  of  education  is  understood, 
and  lessons  of  great  import  in  after  life  are  learned 
never  to  be  forgotten.  It  thus  often  happens  that  lack  of 
material  means,  instead  of  being  a  misfortune  becomes  a 
real  blessing;  instead  of  being  an  evil  it  proves  to  be  a 


EDUCATIONAL    LIMITATIONS  173 

most  valuable  means  of  self-culture.  Certain  it  is  that 
many  of  the  leaders  of  the  world's  thought  and  activities 
to-day,  have  passed  through  just  this  crucible. 

The  Power  of  Self-Direction.  —  No  man's  education  is 
ever  completed  as  long  as  life  lasts.  The  wider  the  intel- 
lectual horizon  the  greater  the  possibilities  of  further  knowl- 
edge. If  a  candle  be  placed  in  the  center  of  a  dark  space 
it  will  light  up  objects  near  at  hand  for  a  space  of,  say, 
twenty  feet  in  diameter.  In  the  horizon  of  the  circle  about 
this  diameter,  there  will  appear  many  indistinct  objects. 
Substitute  a  lamp  for  the  candle  and  the  dim  objects  in 
the  former  horizon  become  perfectly  clear;  but  a  large 
horizon  of  perhaps  fifty  feet  in  diameter  will  be  formed  and 
consequently  a  far  greater  number  of  unknown,  indistinct 
objects  will  appear.  Once  more,  substitute  for  the  lamp 
an  arc  light,  capable  of  illuminating  a  space  five  hundred 
feet  in  diameter,  and  again  the  objects  dimly  seen  in  the 
former  horizon  become  clear;  but  we  find  a  still  greater 
number  of  unknown  objects  in  the  much  enlarged  circle. 
So  it  is  with  the  widening,  enlightening  power  of  education. 
A  little  learning  fosters  conceit;  the  horizon  being  small 
there  are  but  few  things  that  are  unknown.  Enlarge  the 
horizon  and  the  conceit  diminishes  —  the  wisest  men  are 
noted  for  their  humility.  Every  enlargement  of  the  horizon 
increases  and  extends  the  view,  while  it  impresses  the  mind 
with  how  little  relatively  the  wisest  can  know.  An  edu- 
cated man  has  been  described  as  one  who  has  found  out 
that  he  knows  but  little. 

Instead  of  leaving  one  satisfied  with  a  narrow  horizon, 
or  discouraged  by  the  immensity  of  the  field  of  knowledge, 


174  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

it  is  the  province  of  education  to  awaken  a  thirst  for  intel- 
lectual acquirement^  to  stimulate  ambition  for  its  possession, 
and  to  cultivate  the  power  of  pursuing  it  independently. 
The  teacher  that  accomplishes  these  ends  bestows  the 
greatest  boon  upon  his  pupils,  a  far  more  important  result 
than  if  he  gives  them  great  knowledge  and  fails  to  teach 
them  to  be  self- directive. 

Rosenkranz  calls  this  the  absolute  limit.  He  says/ 
"  The  absolute  limit  of  education  is  the  time  when  the  youth 
has  apprehended  the  problem  which  he  has  to  solve,  has 
learned  to  know  the  means  at  his  disposal,  and  has  acquired 
a  certain  facility  in  using  them.  The  end  and  aim  of  edu- 
cation is  the  emancipation  of  the  youth.  It  strives  to  make 
him  self-dependent,  and  as  soon  as  he  has  become  so,  it 
wishes  to  retire  and  leave  to  him  the  sole  responsibility  for 
his  actions.  To  treat  the  youth  after  he  has  passed  this 
point  still  as  a  youth,  contradicts  the  very  idea  of  educa- 
tion, which  finds  its  fulfilment  in  the  attainment  of  this 
state  of  maturity  by  the  pupil.  Since  the  completion  of 
education  cancels  the  inequality  between  the  educator 
and  the  pupil,  nothing  is  more  oppressing,  nay,  revolting 
to  the  latter  than  to  be  excluded  by  a  continued  state  of 
dependence  from  the  enjoyment  of  the  freedom  which  he 
has  earned." 

When  one  considers  that  a  large  proportion  of  pupils 
leave  school  at  twelve  years  of  age  or  earlier,  the  importance 
of  training  children  to  be  able  to  direct  their  own  future 
educational  development  becomes  evident.  This  object 
should  be  clearly  in  the  minds  of  the  teachers  of  the  elemen- 
tary schools,  else  the  great  majority  of  the  people  will  never 
*  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  49. 


EDUCATIONAL    LIMITATIONS  175 

attain  to  it.  The  teacher  that  inspires  the  child  with  a 
desire  for  learning  and  equips  him  with  the  power  of 
directing  his  own  acquirement,  has  done  the  very  best  thing 
that  can  be  accomplished  in  the  school.  It  puts  him  in  the 
way  of  attaining  the  complete  emancipation  of  which 
Rosenkranz  speaks.  The  work  of  the  elementary  teacher 
is  thus  shown  to  be  the  most  important  in  the  whole  field 
of  education,  (i)  because  it  alone  reaches  some  eighty 
per  cent  of  the  whole  mass  of  children  that  go  to  no  other 
school;  and  (2)  because  it  gives  even  to  those  who  extend 
their  course  the  inspiration,  the  impulse,  the  power  of  self- 
direction  without  which  future  study  would  be  misdirected 
and  inefficient.  With  the  abundance  of  educational  facil- 
ities at  hand,  the  libraries,  the  lecture  courses,  the  maga- 
zines and  newspapers,  the  pulpit,  the  literary  club,  the 
intercourse  with  cultured  persons  —  there  is  no  limit  to 
the  development  of  one  who  has  learned  how  to  direct 
his  intellectual  energies. 

Advantages  of  Superior  Education.  —  Possessing  the 
capacity  and  the  material  means,  and  having  acquired  the 
power  of  self-direction,  is  it  wise  to  secure  an  advanced 
education?  Does  it  pay?  is  the  question  that  Americans 
are  apt  to  ask.  From  an  analysis  of  a  list,  given  in  "Who's 
Who  in  America,''  of  8000  persons  who  have  achieved  dis- 
tinction in  the  United  States,  the  following  result  is  apparent : 

1.  "That  an  uneducated  child  has  one  chance  in 
150,000  of  attaining  distinction  as  a  factor  in  the  progress 
of  the  age. 

2.  "That  a  common  school  education  will  increase  his 
chances  nearly  four  times. 


176  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

3.  "  That  a  high  school  training  will  increase  the 
chances  of  the  common  school  boy  twenty^three  times,  giving 
him  eighty-seven  times  the  chance  of  the  uneducated. 

4.  **That  a  college  education  increases  the  chances  of 
the  high  school  boy  nine  times,  giving  him  219  times  the 
chance  of  the  common  school  boy,  and  more  than  800 
times  the  chance  of  the  untrained.''  Of  the  nearly  8000 
notables  given  in  this  book,  4810  are  full  college  gradu- 
ates. 

Dr.  William  T.  Harris  thinks  that  the  chances  of  success 
of  the  properly  educated  person  in  both  character  and 
attainment,  are  as  250  to  i  over  the  uneducated.  Investi- 
gations have  shown  that  in  the  ministry,  law,  medicine, 
teaching,  journalism,  and  even  in  merchandising,  manu- 
facturing, and  other  business  enterprises,  education  greatly 
increases  a  man's  likelihood  of  success.  James  M.  Dodge 
shows  by  careful  statistics  that  the  expenditure  of  time  and 
money  for  an  advanced  education  adds  to  the  potential 
value  of  a  man  and  increases  his  earning  power  far  beyond 
the  investment.  He  says,^  ^^I  have  endeavored  to  find  out 
what  the  money  investment  is  in  a  boy  of  sixteen.  The 
census  reports  and  statistics  from  abroad  cannot  possibly 
give  all  the  items.  It  is  so  difficult  to  decide  upon  the 
class  to  which  any  individual  belongs.  I  feel  satisfied, 
however,  that  the  world  at  large  places  a  very  accurate 
value  on  any  commodity,  and  labor  certainly  is  a  commodity, 
and  the  community  in  which  we  live  says  that  a  sixteen- 
year-old  lad  in  good  health  entering  a  shop  is  worth  $3.00 
per   week,    and,    consequently,    his   potential   or   invested 

*  Address  before  the  Williamson  Trade  School,  Philadelphia,  on  "The 
Money  Value  of  Training." 


EDUCATIONAL    LIMITATIONS  1 77 

value  is  $3000.  We  will,  therefore,  establish  this  as  his 
value."  After  a  course  of  careful  reasoning,  amply  illus- 
trated, he  concludes,  **A  trained  man  at  twenty- five  years 
of  age  has  a  potential  value  of  $22,000  (earning  $22  per 
week),  or  in  nine  years  he  has  increased  his  value  $19,000, 
or  at  the  rate  of  $2100  per  annum,  as  compared  with 
$1300  per  annum  for  the  untrained  man  (who  may  be 
expected  to  earn  only  $13  per  week  at  twenty- five  years  of 
age),  and  with  this  manifest  additional  advantage  over  the 
untrained  man  —  that  his  line  has  no  limitation,  so  far 
as  we  can  see."  ^ 

But  the  money  value  of  education  is  by  no  means  the 
most  important.  Education  increases  a  man's  influence 
and  his  usefulness.  In  general,  it  may  be  asserted  that 
the  most  useful  and  influential  persons  of  a  community 
owe  their  superiority  to  education  rather  than  to  wealth, 
social  position,  or  any  other  means. 

Then,  too,  must  be  considered  the  personal  satisfaction, 
the  power  to  comprehend  and  enjoy  life,  and  make  the 
most  of  it  by  those  whose  minds  have  been  opened  to  the 
rich  things  of  the  world  through  the  instrumentality  of 
education.  The  power  of  enjoyment  and  appreciation  is 
increased  through  the  refining,  broadening,  and  uplifting 
character  of  knowledge,  and  through  the  revelation  of  one's 
own  capacities.  The  world  of  books,  of  science,  of  art, 
of  nature,  of  the  works  of  God  and  man  is  opened  to  the 
soul,  and  the  invitation  to  enter,  possess,  and  enjoy  is 
understood  and  accepted. 

Education  invites  a  man  to  make  the  most  of  himself  and 
shows  him  how  to  do  it.     This  attainment  is  his  duty  as  well 

^  See  also  Barbe,  ''Going  to  College." 


178  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

as  his  privilege.  Hence  the  work  of  the  teacher,  who  stimu- 
lates the  youth  to  desire  education  and  take  advantage  of 
his  opportunities,  who  guides  him  in  that  work  and  unfolds 
unknown  possibilities  to  him,  who  arouses  his  self- activity, 
is  the  greatest  work  in  which  man  can  engage.  And  the 
State  through  its  generous  support  of  schools,  and  private 
benefactors  through  their  munificent  gifts  have  made  it 
possible  in  this  land  for  every  boy  and  girl  who  possesses 
the  capacity,  and  who  desires  it,  to  gain  a  liberal  education. 


Summary 

/.  Education  starts  out  with  the  assumption  that  the 
child  possesses  capacity,  and  this  alone  limits  his  possible 
achievement.  Training  should  be  along  the  line  of  the 
child^s  particular  endowment,  but  the  teacher  must  not  be 
hasty  in  determining  the  special  field  in  which  the  child  is 
best  fitted  to  work. 

II.  Without  self-activity  on  the  part  of  the  pupil  all 
attempts  to  development  are  futile.  This  activity,  however^ 
must  be  aroused  by  the  teacher  through  instruction.  The 
teacher  must  stimulate  and  guide  the  child,  but  never  do  for 
him  what  he  can  do  for  himself.  The  end  ever  in  view 
must  be  the  systematic  direction  of  the  child^s  activities  so 
that  he  will  have  to  employ  himself  and  exercise  self-control. 

III.  A  second  limit  of  education  is  found  in  the  material 
means  at  command,  such  as  time  and  money.  This,  how- 
ever, can  be  overcome  if  there  is  determination  and  zeal 
coupled  with  capacity. 


EDUCATIONAL  LIMITATIONS  1 79 

IV.  The  final  limit  is  reached  when  the  individual  has 
acquired  the  ability  to  direct  his  own  education.  He  then  is 
emancipated,  and  is  able  to  continue  his  development  even 
if  he  cannot  attend  school  or  employ  teachers.  The  attain- 
ment of  this  end  is  of  far  more  importance  than  much 
knowledge  and  the  possession  of  many  facts.  Wide  culture 
increases  the  influence,  the  efficiency,  the  success,  and  the 
power  of  enjoyment  of  those  possessing  it. 


CHAPTER    XII 

FACTORS  m  THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  CHILD 

References. — Educational  Review j  Vol.  XXIV;  Ogden,  Science 
of  Education;  Seeley^  Foundations  of  Education;  Butler^  The  Mean- 
ing of  Education;  Spencer^  Education;  Wilson ,  Pedagogues  and 
Parents. 

Primitive  Education.  —  Many  are  disposed  to  relegate 
the  work  of  education  entirely  to  the  school,  —  the  secular 
school  for  secular  education,  and  the  Sunday  school  for 
religious  education.  This  is  a  conception  that  too  often 
prevails.  In  primitive  times  the  home  undertook  the 
whole  work  of  training  the  young.  There  were  neither 
schools  nor  teachers  in  the  modern  sense,  nor  were  these 
needed.  In  the  simple  nomadic  life  the  father  tended  his 
herds,  followed  the  chase,  and  moved  his  tent  from  place 
to  place  as  was  necessary  to  seek  pasturage  for  his  flocks. 
Naturally  his  son  went  with  him  and  obtained  all  the  educa- 
tion needed  for  the  simple  life  they  lived,  through  asso- 
ciating with  and  assisting  his  father.  How  to  strike  tent, 
to  sling  the  stone  or  hurl  the  spear  in  battle  or  chase,  how 
to  prepare  the  skins  of  beasts  for  clothing  and  their  flesh 
for  food,  how  to  defend  himself,  how  to  meet  and  conquer 
his  enemies,  were  lessons  he  learned  from  his  father  in  daily 
association,  and  they  constituted  all  the  education  he  needed. 
So,  too,  the  daughter  learned  the  ordinary  duties  of  her 
home  from  her  mother.  But  as  civilization  advanced, 
as  the  simple  gave  way  to  the  more  complex  form  of  life 
in  the  home  and  in  the  vocation,  as  new  demands  were 

i8o 


FACTORS   IN    THE   EDUCATION    OF    THE   CHILD      l8l 

made  upon  parents  and  new  duties  had  to  be  assumed  by 
them,  they  could  no  longer  meet  the  educational  require- 
ments of  their  children  and  they  were  obliged  to  seek  some 
other  agency  for  their  education.  Hence  the  necessity  for 
schools  and  teachers.  Under  the  strenuous  requirements 
of  modern  life  in  business,  in  the  professions,  as  well  as  in 
society,  neither  the  father  nor  the  mother,  even  if  well  quali- 
fied to  do  so,  can  devote  the  necessary  time  for  the  educa- 
tion of  their  children.  In  addition  to  the  increased  de- 
mands upon  the  parents'  time  in  meeting  the  duties  of  life, 
there  are  also  greatly  increased  educational  requirements, 
which  can  be  satisfied  only  by  employing  persons  specially 
prepared  to  teach,  and  by  devoting  a  great  deal  of  time  in 
order  to  fulfil  these  requirements. 

But  with  all  the  multifarious  duties  of  modern  life  that 
crowd  upon  parents,  there  can  never  be  an  excuse  for  turn- 
ing over  the  whole  matter  of  educating  their  children  to 
others  —  the  duties  of  parentage  involve  the  training,  as 
well  as  the  nourishing,  clothing,  and  housing  of  their  chil- 
dren. While,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  primitive  period  of 
the  world's  history,  the  whole  duty  of  education  could  be 
assumed  by  the  parents,  they  should  not  go  to  the  other 
extreme  at  the  present  time.  Attempt  will  be  made  later 
to  show  what  agencies  enter  into  the  education  of  the  child 
and  the  duties  that  should  be  assumed  by  them  respec- 
tively. 

Importance  of  Education.  —  The  problem  of  the  edu- 
cation of  the  young  is  one  of  the  greatest  problems  that 
has  ever  commanded  the  interest  and  thought  of  mankind. 
Many  of  the  greatest  men  that  ever  lived  have  devoted  their 


l82  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

noblest  thoughts  to  this  question.  Socrates,  Plato,  Saint 
Augustine,  Charlemagne,  Luther,  Locke,  Bacon,  Rousseau, 
Comenius,  Pestalozzi,  Spencer,  and  many  others,  have  added 
to  the  riches  of  the  world's  literature  in  their  writings  on 
this  subject.  And  these  works  have  mightily  forwarded 
the  progress  of  civilization.  Upon  the  solution  of  this 
problem  depends  the  future  of  the  child,  the  home,  the  com- 
munity, the  State,  and  in  the  largest  sense,  the  welfare  of  man 
himself.  Education  must  teach  the  child  his  duty  to  his 
parents,  to  his  comrades,  to  society,  to  his  country,  and  to  the 
world  at  large.  It  shapes  the  relationship  of  the  home  — 
between  husband  and  wife,  parents  and  children,  brothers 
and  sisters,  master  and  servant,  between  the  family  and  the 
outside  world.  It  shows  what  one  owes  to  the  community, 
it  teaches  regard  for  the  rights  of  others,  awakens  interest 
in  public  affairs,  and  leads  to  the  practice  of  the  Golden 
Rule  in  dealings  with  one's  neighbors.  It  fosters  genuine 
patriotism,  informs  as  to  the  duties  of  citizenship,  and 
makes  peace-loving,  law-abiding,  duty-respecting  members 
of  the  State,  who  are  patriotic  in  peace  as  in  war,  who  be- 
lieve that  municipal  integrity  is  as  essential  as  personal 
righteousness,  and  of  the  same  character,  and  who  are  con- 
sequently the  support  and  bulwark  of  the  State.  The 
problem  of  education  recognizes  that  the  material  and  the 
intellectual  in  man  do  not  comprise  his  whole  being,  but 
it  assumes  that  he  is  also  spiritual,  and  unless  this  side  of 
his  life  is  developed  the  full  work  of  education  has  not  been 
accomplished. 

There  are  at  least  five  factors  that  enter  into  the  education 
of  the  child,  namely:  the  home,  the  school,  civil  society,  the 
StatCy   and  the   Church,     Each   has   its   duty   to   perform 


FACTORS    IN    THE    EDUCATION    OF    THE   CHILD       183 

which  cannot  be  delegated  to  any  other  instrumentality 
without  the  child  suffering  in  the  completeness  of  his  de- 
velopment. 

I.  The  Home,  — We  have  seen  how  in  primitive  times 
the  home  was  obliged  to  take  the  full  responsibility  of  edu- 
cation, and  how  under  the  existing  conditions  it  was  easy 
for  it  to  bear  that  responsibility.  Under  modern  condi- 
tions, this  is  impossible  in  most  families.  But  the  home 
cannot  be  absolved  from  its  duty  whatever  the  conditions. 
In  the  first  place,  the  first  five  or  six  years  of  childhood 
belong  solely  to  the  home.  The  child  must  be  trained  to 
good  habits,  such  as  cleanliness,  regularity  in  eating,  caring 
for  its  personal  wants.  It  also  learns  to  use  a  language, 
and  much  future  trouble  will  be  prevented  if  it  learns  cor- 
rect forms  of  expression.  In  the  next  place,  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  in  this  country  the  school  has  the  child 
for  only  about  five  hours  a  day  for  something  like  two  hun- 
dred days  a  year  and  for  an  average  of  about  five  years. 
This  leaves  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  child's  time  under 
the  jurisdiction  and  influence  of  the  home,  even  during  its 
school  life. 

Again,  with  reference  to  the  school  itself  the  home  can- 
not escape  responsibility.  It  must  see  that  the  child 
attends  school  punctually  and  regularly;  that  it  is  provided 
with  suitable  books  and  other  school  material,  and  that 
it  gives  obedience  to  the  necessary  school  regulations. 
And  when  the  child  is  old  enough  to  do  home-work,  parents 
must  see  to  it  that  these  tasks  are  performed.  It  is  not  the 
duty  of  the  parents  to  perform  these  tasks  for  their  children, 
or  even  to  assist  them,  and  no  wise  teacher  expects  this. 
Indeed,  the  teacher  generally  prefers  that  parents  shall  not 


184  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

aid  their  children  in  their  school  work.  The  child  is  sent 
home  with  work  that  has  already  been  explained  and  that 
should  require  no  outside  aid,  work  that  is  within  his 
ability,  and  therefore  aid  from  the  parents  is  not  desirable. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  school  to  give  the  necessary  instruction, 
to  assign  home  tasks  that  are  intended  to  fortify  that  in- 
struction, and  all  that  should  be  expected  of  the  parents 
is  to  see  that  their  children  are  faithful  in  performing  their 
work,  devoting  a  reasonable  amount  of  time  thereto.  In 
this  way  the  parents  will  have  a  part  in  the  intellectual 
education  of  their  children,  but  will  not  be  burdened  with 
its  details.     This  belongs  to  the  school. 

If  the  intellectual  development  cannot  be  neglected  by 
parents,  how  much  more  must  their  attention  be  given  to 
their  moral  and  spiritual  upbuilding,  which  also  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  education  of  every  human  being. 
Religious  culture  as  such  cannot  be  undertaken  in  the 
State  schools,  for  the  support  of  which  the  public  are  taxed ; 
hence  the  obligation  upon  parents  in  this  respect  is  doubly 
binding.  The  moral  teaching  carried  on  in  the  schools 
should  be  supplemented  by  work  in  the  home.  The 
Church,  the  Sunday  school,  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  and  various  other  institutions  may  furnish 
religious  instruction  for  the  young,  but  they  should  only 
serve  as  aids  to  the  home,  where  children  are  to  be 
regarded  as  ''Gifts  of  God,"  and  in  which  teaching  them 
their  duty  to  God  and  their  fellow-men  is  accepted  as  a 
sacred  obligation  as  well  as  a  blessed  privilege.  Where  the 
home  is  a  sanctuary  in  which  instruction  in  God's  Word  and 
in  personal  duty  toward  Him  is  supplemented  by  the  holy, 
pure,  and  consistent  example  of   the  parents,  there  is  no 


FACTORS   IN    THE   EDUCATION    OF    THE   CHILD       185 

substitute  for  it  in  any  other  institution  as  a  means  of 
teaching  genuine  religion. 

"  Fads."  —  It  is  perfectly  proper  that  parents  should  hold 
the  school  responsible  for  its  work.  It  is  an  institution 
created  and  supported  by  them,  their  children  are  committed 
to  its  care,  and  much  of  the  future  success  of  these  children 
depends  upon  its  efficiency.  But  parents  should  not  be  too 
ready  to  criticise  the  school.  They  should  visit  it,  study  its 
work,  become  acquainted  with  the  teachers,  enter  into 
their  plans,  sympathize  with  their  difficulties,  and  intelli- 
gently aid  them  in  every  possible  way.  They  should 
reahze  that  most  teachers  are  earnestly  seeking  to  be  a 
blessing  to  the  children  under  their  care,  and  therefore 
are  worthy  of  support  rather  than  antagonism.  They 
should  also  remember  that  the  school  must  prepare  the 
children  for  present  civilization  and  present  conditions, 
and  that  the  requirements  of  even  a  generation  ago  will  not 
suffice  to-day.  New  discoveries  and  inventions  have  been 
made  which  have  added  greatly  to  the  world's  knowledge; 
business  methods  have  changed,  and  the  curriculum  of  the 
school  has  necessarily  been  enlarged  to  meet  the  new 
conditions.  The  improvements  of  the  school  must  keep 
abreast  with  the  progress  of  the  world,  if  not  anticipate  it. 
Besides  this,  greater  knowledge  of  child  development  and  of 
educational  problems  bear  fruit  in  better  methods  of 
instruction  and  in  a  more  rational  course  of  study.  For 
these  reasons  the  common  school  course  of  study  cannot 
be  confined  to  the  ^*  Three  R's."  That  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic  should  be  thoroughly  taught  goes  without 
saying,  and  it  may  be  confidently  asserted  that  they  are 


i86  Elementary  pedagogy 

being  better  taught  at  the  present  time  than  at  any  period 
in  the  history  of  our  schools.  No  teacher  minimizes  their 
value;  but  they  are  not  the  only  subjects  to  be  taught,  nor 
even  the  most  important  ones.  They  are  the  instrument, 
the  key  that  opens  the  door  to  the  great  riches  of  literature, 
art,  science,  and  other  stores  of  knowledge.^ 

2.  The  School,  —  The  second  factor  in  order  of  sequence 
is  the  school.  In  the  ordinary  conception  of  education, 
that  of  mere  intellectual  development,  the  school  is  the 
most  important  agent.  But  thinkers  regard  education  as 
the  development  of  the  whole  man,  physical,  intellectual, 
moral,  and  spiritual,  as  has  already  been  shown  in  Chapter 
II,  and  with  many  children,  it  must  be  admitted,  about 
the  only  hope  of  their  spiritual,  as  well  as  secular  salvation, 
lies  in  the  efficiency  of  the  school.  It  is  certainly  true  that 
the  other  agencies  that  largely  influence  the  child  in  his 
environment  are  so  demoralizing,  in  many  cases  at  least, 
that  if  the  school  does  not  save  him  there  is  little  hope  for 
him.  It  is  a  blessed  truth  that  many  a  man  has  been 
saved  to  usefulness  and  honorable  life  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  a  devoted  teacher  who  established  him  in 
good  habits  and  inspired  him  to  right  living  in  spite  of  the 
evil  surroundings  of  his  home.     This  is  one  of  the  compen- 

*  In  a  comparative  study  of  results  in  spelling,  arithmetic,  writing,  etc., 
in  1846  and  1905,  made  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  it  was  found  that  even  in 
the  "  Three  R's,"  the  school  of  the  present  time  is  far  ahead  of  the  old  time 
school, — the  percent  correct  being  as  follows: 

1846  1905 

Spelling 40.6  51.2 

Arithmetic 29.4  65.5 

See  New  York  School  Joiirnal.     Vol.  Lxxi,  p.  589. 


FACTORS   IN    THE   EDUCATION    OF    THE   CHILD       187 

sations  of  the  life  of  a  consecrated  school  teacher,  and  it 
makes  his  sacrifice  worth  while  even  if  the  world  fails 
suitably  to  recognize  his  efforts. 

But  the  school  is  clearly  responsible  for  instruction  in 
the  conventionalities  of  education,  such  as,  reading,  spell- 
ing, arithmetic,  geography,  history,  etc.  If  the  school  fails 
in  this  work  the  parents  certainly  should  call  it  to  account. 
The  teacher  is  professionally  prepared  to  do  this  work,  the 
school  is  equipped  for  it  at  great  expense,  and  time  is  set 
apart  for  its  accomplishment.  Intellectual  instruction 
must  ever  occupy  the  chief  part  of  the  school's  time, 
although  the  moral  and  physical  must  not  be  neglected, 
inasmuch  as  they  are  so  essential  to  success.  The 
school  takes  the  child  at  five  or  six  years  of  age,  keeps 
him  in  charge  for  perhaps  five  hours  a  day,  and  superin- 
tends, in  a  measure,  his  intellectual  work  outside  of  these 
hours.  This  continues  for  a  period  of  years.  Because 
of  the  sacrifices  made  by  parents,  because  of  the  expense 
devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  schools,  certain  definite 
results  may  be  demanded.  While  the  school  thus  becomes 
the  chief  instrumentality  of  education,  it  may  be  again 
remarked  that  it  is  not  the  only  one. 

Dr.  Harris  says:^  "It  is  important  to  know  the  exact 
province  of  the  school,  and  to  see  that  it  is  only  one  of  the 
five  forms  of  education  that  civilization  provides  for  man. 
Much  of  the  carping  criticism  leveled  against  schools,  in 
times  of  financial  distress  or  general  social  depression,  is 
based  on  the  assumption  that  the  province  of  the  school 
is  all  education  instead  of  a  small  but  important  fraction 
of  it.     The  school  may  do  its  share  of  correct  education, 

'  Rosenkranz,  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  58. 


l88  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

but  it  cannot  correct  the  effects  of  neglect  of  family  nurture, 
nor  insure  its  youth  against  evil  that  will  follow  if  civil 
society  furnishes  no  steady  employment,  no  opportunity 
for  settled  industry,  and  the  State  no  training  into  con- 
sciousness of  higher  manhood  by  its  just  laws,  and  by  offer- 
ing to  the  citizen  a  participation  in  the  political  process  of 
legislation  and  administration,  carefully  guarding  its  forms 
so  that  its  politics  does  not  furnish  a  training  in  corruption. 
Nor  can  the  school  insure  the  future  of  its  pupils  unless 
the  Church  does  its  part  in  the  education  of  the  individuals 
of  the  community/' 

Upon  the  school,  then,  is  laid  the  duty  of  the  systematic 
and  scientific  intellectual  development  of  the  child  almost 
entirely,  and  of  a  large  part  of  the  physical  and  moral  educa- 
tion, while  the  religious  training  must  largely  be  left  to 
other  instrumentalities. 

3.  Civil  Society,  —  There  are  two  aspects  in  which  civil 
society  acts  as  an  educative  influence:  (i)  in  the  trade 
or  vocation  that  one  follows,  and  (2)  in  the  effect  of 
the  environment  in  which  one  Hves.  As  to  the 
vocation  pursued,  the  school  may  lay  the  foundations 
which  prepare  the  way  for  the  final  preparation  for  life 
work,  but  it  cannot  make  the  preparation  itself.  Manual 
training  and  trade  schools  do  much  to  fit  for  mechanical 
pursuits,  technical  institutions  give  a  higher  form  of  prep- 
aration, but  even  they  cannot  complete  one's  education 
in  this  field.  Their  efficiency  is  made  the  greater  by  an 
equipment  of  tools,  machines,  and  apparatus,  which  the 
student  is  required  actually  to  use.  and  become  familiar  with, 
but  even  these  experiences,  at  best,  can  only  prepare  him 
to  grapple  more  easily  with  the  actual  problems  of  his  voca- 


FACTORS   IN    THE   EDUCATION    OF    THE   CHILD      189 

tion.  He  is  still  in  his  apprenticeship  even  after  completing 
the  most  extended  school  course,  and  must  serve  under  the 
direction  of  a  master  who  has  practiced  in  the  real  work  of 
his  calling.  The  same  is  true  in  the  professional  world. 
The  best  courses  in  the  medical  college  must  be  supple- 
mented by  hospital  work.  Otherwise  the  practitioner  in 
his  future  experience  would  be  seriously  handicapped. 
The  normal  school  course,  however  much  of  theory  and 
practice  it  may  offer,  however  careful  it  may  be  in  present- 
ing to  the  young  teachers  the  problems  of  education,  at  the 
most,  can  only  open  the  way  to  that  larger  conception  of 
their  work  which  comes  from  actual  experience  in  the 
schoolroom  and  in  life. 

The  vocation  itself  must  be  taken  into  account  in  sum- 
marizing educational  effects.  Thus  the  teachers  of  a 
school  refused  to  recommend  their  boys  as  butcher's  appren- 
tices, or  as  waiters  in  restaurants,  not  because  these  callings 
in  themselves  are  dishonorable,  but  because  they  tend  to 
brutalize  and  debase  the  nature.  Some  vocations  ennoble 
the  nature,  broaden  the  mind,  elevate  the  thoughts,  sweeten 
the  life,  arouse  the  benevolent  tendency,  stimulate  the 
spirit  of  altruism  in  man,  while  others  produce  the  opposite 
results.  Therefore  the  vocation  is  a  most  important  and 
subtle  educational  influence. 

In  the  second  place,  society  in  its  broader  sense  exerts 
a  powerful  influence  upon  human  development.  Parents 
recognize  this  in  the  selection  of  places  of  residence  in 
which  to  rear  their  children.  The  atmosphere  that  pre- 
vades  a  community  —  social,  intellectual,  moral,  religious 
—  has  a  marked  effect  in  forming  the  ideals  of  those  brought 
up  in  its  midst.     To  live  in  a  community  where  there  are 


Igo  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

superior  educational  advantages  has  a  tendency  in  itself  to 
foster  a  desire  for  learning.  This  is  shown  by  the  large 
number  of  those  who  go  to  college  when  they  are  brought 
up  under  the  shadow  of  such  an  institution.  Even  the 
presence  of  a  good  high  school,  or  a  private  academy, 
is  a  great  stimulus  to  advanced  education,  and  its  effect 
is  felt  not  only  upon  those  who  take  its  courses,  but 
also  upon  their  parents,  and  upon  others  who  come 
within  the  radius  of  its  influence.  Many  mechanics  and 
laboring  people  of  a  college  town  are  elevated  by  the  work 
of  the  institution  through  free  lectures,  through  the  per- 
vading educational  spirit,  through  contact  with  professors 
and  other  people  of  superior  intelligence,  and  through  the 
various  activities  that  characterize  a  small  college  town. 
And  through  these  influences  many  of  them  are  led  to  have 
their  children  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  that  lies 
at  their  door,  and  which  they  have  learned  to  appreciate. 

Then  the  moral  tone  of  society  has  its  effect  upon  the 
education  of  youth.  If  vice  predominates  so  that  it  is 
popular,  it  becomes  very  easy  to  drop  into  evil  practice. 
One  has  only  to  compare  the  situation  in  a  new  frontier  town 
vvhere  the  saloon,  gambling  dens,  and  other  places  of  evil 
Sourish,  and  where  a  low  standard  of  moral  living  prevails, 
v/ith  a  settled  community  where  evil  places  are  discoun- 
tenanced, where  churches  abound,  and  where  a  healthful 
moral  sentiment  rules.  The  pure  life  of  every  man  and 
woman  is  an  educative  influence  that  cannot  be  measured, 
and  the  higher  the  social  position  occupied  the  wider  is  that 
influence.  As  the  moral  tone  of  the  community  is  so 
important  an  agency  in  education,  parents,  when  they  are 
able  to  do  so,  select  their  places  of  residence  with  reference 


FACTORS    IN    THE   EDUCATION    OF    THE   CHILD       191 

to  this  condition  fully  as  much  as  with  reference  to  the 
physical  health.  The  ideal  place  for  a  home,  from  an 
educational  standpoint,  is  that  in  which  there  is  not  only 
healthful  physical  environment,  but  also  society  of  high 
moral  tone,  with  suitable  means  of  intellectual  growth, 
together  with  the  inspiring  spiritual  life  exemplified  by 
Christian  manhood  and  womanhood.  These  influences, 
though  subtle  and  difficult  to  measure,  are  none  the  less 
real  and  vital  to  education. 

4.  The  State.  —  It  is  not  the  purpose  here  to  discuss  the 
office  of  the  State  in  assuming  control  of  education,  in  build- 
ing schoolhouses,  in  training  and  licensing  teachers,  in 
supervising  the  schools,  in  directing  and  administering 
educational  forces,  and  in  taxing  itself  for  the  same.  This 
is  accepted  as  the  duty  of  the  State,  and  is  recognized  as 
essential  in  order  to  secure  its  own  safety  and  perpetuity. 
Especially  is  this  true  in  a  republic  where  the  final  respon- 
sibility of  government  rests  upon  the  individual  citizen. 
In  no  country  in  the  world  is  the  burden  of  public  education 
more  cheerfully  assumed  than  in  ours.  It  is  universally 
understood  and  accepted  that  our  schools  must  be  main- 
tained, their  standard  raised,  and  no  expense  spared  to 
keep  them  in  touch  with  the  mighty  progress  of  the  age. 
Upon  this  question  there  is  no  dissenting  voice,  the  nation 
is  a  unit. 

But  there  is  another  sense  in  which  that  institution  which 
we  call  the  State  is  a  tremendous  force  in  education.  There 
is  "the  political  education  into  citizenship,  resulting  from 
obedience  to  laws  and  participation  in  making  and  sustain- 
ing them."  By  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of  just 
laws,  by  inspiring  respect  for  its  authority,  by  demanding 


192  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

strict  integrity  and  faithfulness  on  the  part  of  its  ofl&cials, 
by  proper  economy  in  pubHc  expenses,  by  dispensing  the 
funds  committed  to  it  by  the  people  wisely,  honestly,  and 
judiciously,  the  State  gives  an  example  and  teaches  lessons 
that  have  a  positive  influence  upon  the  individual  and  upon 
the  community.  And  where  the  State  is  wanting  in  these 
practices,  evil  lessons  are  correspondingly  taught.  Striking 
examples  of  the  evil  effects  of  pernicious  municipal  govern- 
ment unfortunately  are  not  lacking  in  our  land.  The 
presence  of  a  ring  in  a  city  government,  the  rule  of  ^^  bosses, " 
the  existence  of  dishonest  men  looting  the  public  treasury 
for  private  ends,  rewarding  subservient  followers  and  pun- 
ishing opponents,  cannot  fail  not  only  to  exert  a  most 
debasing  influence  upon  public  morals,  but  also  to  have 
a  baneful  effect  upon  the  young. 

So  long  as  public  servants  do  not  feel  bound  to  render 
adequate  service  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties  the  same 
as  if  employed  by  private  concerns;  so  long  as  robbing  the 
public  is  considered  less  a  crime  than  robbing  an  individual ; 
so  long  as  a  different  standard  of  ethics  exists  with  reference 
to  a  man's  attitude  towards  public  and  private  matters,  a 
false  notion  of  right  and  wrong  prevails  that  is  sure  to  work 
evil  with  the  youth.  When  the  notorious  Tweed  debauched 
all  the  branches  of  the  government  of  a  great  city  and  seemed 
to  prosper  thereby,  the  worst  effect  was  not  upon  those 
directly  corrupted,  nor  upon  the  suffering  public  who  were 
robbed,  but  upon  the  great  mass  of  young  people  who  were 
dazzled  by  the  immediate  success  of  a  career  of  crime,  and 
whose  moral  sense  was  vitiated  thereby.  Without  doubt 
many  a  young  man  was  led  into  evil  practice  by  the  prev- 
alence and  success  of  crime  on   the  part  of  those  whose 


FACTORS   IN    THE   EDUCATION    OF    THE   CHILD 


193 


duty  it  was  to  administer  just  laws.  Righteousness  in  high 
places  has  a  tendency  to  foster  righteousness  in  the  individ- 
ual, while  an  evil  atmosphere  in  places  of  authority  like- 
wise stimulates  evil.  And  these  things  must  certainly  be 
reckoned  with  in  education. 

Patriotism.  —  True  patriotism  can  never  be  fostered  in 
a  community  in  which  there  is  lacking  strict  integrity  in  the 
discharge  of  public  duty,  in  which  office-holders  regard 
their  places  as  opportunities  for  graft  rather  than  a  sacred 
trust  committed  to  them  in  order  that  they  may  serve  their 
country,  and  in  which  the  standard  of  righteousness  is 
other  than  that  of  God's  law.  It  is  useless  to  deliver 
orations  on  the  Fourth  of  July  boasting  of  our  great  country 
and  our  free  institutions,  it  will  not  avail  even  to  float  the 
flag  over  the  schoolhouses  and  sing  patriotic  songs  in  the 
schools  with  the  expectation  that  patriotism  will  be  the 
result,  if  the  children  are  confronted  with  dishonest  practices 
of  office-holders  and  party  leaders,  such  as  bu3dng  votes, 
looting  the  treasury,  corrupting  legislation,  and  failing  to 
render  honest  service.  Civic  righteousness  must  be  the 
prevailing  tendency  if  a  healthful,  genuine,  and  inspiring 
patriotism  is  to  be  fostered  in  the  youth  of  our  land. 

Again,  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of  just  and  whole- 
some laws  have  a  salutary  effect  upon  the  ideals  of  a  people. 
Respect  for  and  obedience  to  the  laws  of  a  State  is  an 
important  part  of  that  education  which  prepares  for  good 
citizenship,  and  this  is  a  lesson  that  American  youth  need 
to  learn.  The  State  owes  it  to  itself  in  order  to  insure  its 
stability  and  perpetuity  to  make  only  just  and  equitable 
laws,  and  to  insist  upon  their  honest  and  faithful  enforce- 


194  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

ment.  There  are  too  many  laws  on  the  statute  books  that 
are  wholly  forgotten  or  totally  ignored.  As  a  consequence 
evasions  of  the  law  are  common,  not  only  by  criminals  and 
large  corporations,  but  also  by  citizens  of  every  class,  and 
gross  indifference  to  the  requirements  of  laws  that  inter- 
fere with  the  wishes  of  individuals  is  far  too  common.  This 
is  a  result  of  the  negligent  enforcement  of  law  by  those  to 
whom  this  duty  is  committed  until  the  sacredness  of  law 
has  lost  its  force.  As  an  example  of  this  tendency,  one  has 
but  to  note  the  violations  of  speed  laws  concerning  the 
automobile,  by  which  the  rights  of  many  are  disregarded 
and  their  lives  endangered. 

Strict  integrity  in  public  affairs  as  in  private,  faithful  and 
honest  discharge  of  public  duty  are  essential  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  nation,  and  in  securing  such  a  condition  the 
State  becomes  a  mighty  factor  in  the  education  of  youth. 
If  this  is  wanting,  it  will  be  practically  impossible  for  the 
home  and  the  school  to  counteract  the  evil  emanating 
therefrom,  and  to  implant  in  youth  those  high  ideals  of 
life  and  citizenship  which  are  particularly  essential  in  a 
republic,  and  which  are  necessary  under  any  form  of  gov- 
ernment. Both  the  home  and  the  school  can  inculcate 
the  spirit  of  obedience  to  authority,  but  the  State  must 
supplement  this  by  an  honest  and  rigid  performance  of  its 
duty.  This  is  not  an  infringement  of  the  liberty,  of  the  indi- 
vidual but  rather  a  protection  of  it.  The  highest  ideal  of 
liberty  is  inculcated  when  the  individual  is  taught  to  re- 
spect the  rights  of  others  and  to  submit  to  constituted 
authority.  The  disregard  for  law  which  some  parents 
rather  approvingly  denominate  as  the  "Young  America'' 
spirit,  is  neither  wholesome  nor  sane.     It  is  often  the  asser- 


FACTORS   IN    THE   EDUCATION    OF    THE   CHILD       195 

tion  of  a  spirit  of  lawlessness  that  is  not  in  accord  with 
republican  institutions,  which  are  the  highest  form  of  gov- 
ernment because  it  is  government  '*of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  for  the  people.''  The  true  spirit  of  ^*  Young 
America"  is  the  embodiment  of  respect  for  the  laws  which 
the  people  themselves  have  made,  and  an  appreciation  of 
a  dearly  bought  liberty.  In  the  enjoyment  of  that  liberty 
they  must  never  forget  that  others,  too,  have  equal  rights 
with  them.  Thus  the  State  in  the  broadest  sense  becomes 
an  important  factor  in  the  education  of  a  people. 

5.  The  Church.  —  We  shall  not  here  discuss  the  func- 
tion of  religious  education,  that  subject  being  treated  in  a 
later  chapter.  That  religious  education  is  essential  to 
a  complete  manhood  is  universally  accepted.  A  great 
responsibility  lies  upon  the  home  in  respect  to  religious 
training,  for,  in  a  State  like  ours,  where  Church  and  State 
are  separate,  the  public  school,  supported  by  general  taxa- 
tion, cannot  undertake  this  work.  The  Church  must 
supplement  the  religious  training  of  the  home,  and,  indeed, 
in  many  cases  owing  to  parental  neglect,  it  is  obliged  to 
assume  practically  the  whole  work  of  religious  teaching. 

Attention  is  here  called  to  the  subtle,  constant,  ever- 
pervading,  and  powerful  influence  of  the  Church  as  an  in- 
strument of  education  through  its  presence  rather  than 
through  its  instruction.  Every  church,  every  chapel,  every 
Christian  hospital  or  institution,  every  minister  of  the 
gospel,  every  consistent  Christian  man  or  woman,  is  a 
silent,  mighty,  and  salutary  element  in  the  education  of  a 
people  blessed  with  their  presence.  Who  would  live  in 
a  community  destitute  of  these  agencies !  Every  man  that 
comes  in  contact  with  them  is  consciously  or  unconsciously 


196  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

affected  by  them.  Life  and  property  are  more  secure, 
peace  is  less  disturbed,  happiness  is  assured,  and  the  rights 
of  the  individual  are  guaranteed  by  the  presence  of  the 
Church  and  what  it  represents.  Remove  the  Church  from 
a  community  and  not  only  would  vice  and  crime  lift  their 
monstrous  heads,  but  general  ignorance  also  would  increase. 
A  New  York  police  commissioner  recently  said,  **Were  it 
not  for  religion  and  the  faith  behind  it,  there  are  not 
enough  policemen  in  all  the  world  to  keep  order  in  the  city 
of  New  York.''  If  this  be  so,  every  citizen  is  imder  obliga- 
tion to  support  religious  institutions,  even  if  he  does  not 
attend  divine  service.  It  reduces  his  taxes,  restricts  crime, 
and  therefore  adds  materially  to  the  financial  value  of  his 
property,  while  it  makes  life  safer. 

Every  person  living  within  the  influence  of  the  Church 
is  affected  thereby  even  if  he  never  enters  its  sacred 
edifices.  It  engenders  respect  for  the  Sabbath,  compels 
vice  to  hide  its  head,  lessens  crime,  on  the  one  hand; 
while  on  the  other  hand,  it  establishes  institutions  of 
mercy,  elevates  moral  sentiment,  gives  correct  ideas  of 
justice,  stimulates  right  living,  encourages  every  good  word 
and  work,  not  to  mention  its  more  direct  and  holy  influence 
upon  the  lives  of  those  who  accept  its  ministrations  in  their 
own  personal  experiences  and  lives.  Hence  this  institution 
must  be  counted  as  one  of  the  educational  agencies  both 
directly  and  indirectly,  and  its  silent,  ever-pervading,  holy 
influence  should  be  cherished  and  its  work  sustained. 

It  may  then  be  asserted  that  each  of  these  factors  —  the 
home,  the  school,  civil  society,  the  State  and  the  Church — 
must  enter  into  the  work  of  education,  that  each  has  its 
part  to  perform  that  cannot  be  undertaken  by  the  others. 


FACTORS   IN    THE   EDUCATION    OF    THE   CHILD       197 

Let  each  do  its  work,  none  attempting  to  shirk  responsi- 
bility, but  all  working  together  in  harmony,  sustaining, 
upholding,  strengthening  one  another.  Then  will  result  the 
highest  type  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  individuals 
well-rounded  in  character,  efhcient  in  their  callings,  con- 
scientious, moral,  patriotic,  and  God-fearing. 

The  school,  upon  which  the  principal  burden  of  educa- 
tion is  laid,  is  ready  to  discharge  that  responsibility  accord- 
ing to  the  wisdom  and  strength  given  it.  But  it  has  a  right 
to  expect  the  aid  and  cooperation  of  each  of  these  other 
factors.  And  if  in  individual  cases  the  final  result  falls 
short  of  the  ideal  manhood,  the  teacher  may  justly  feel  that 
others  must  share  the  responsibility  of  that  failure. 


Summary 

While  upon  the  school  is  laid  the  chief  responsibility  of 
the  education  of  youth,  there  are  four  other  agencies  that 
must  share  this  work,  namely,  the  home,  civil  society,  the 
State,  and  the  Church,  Each  must  perform  its  own  special 
function  in  a  right  manner  in  order  that  the  children  may 
develop  into  perfect  manhood  and  womanhood. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

PHYSICAL  DEVELOPMENT 

References.  —  Overton^  Applied  Physiology;  Anderson^  Gymnas- 
tics; Lukens,  The  School-Fatigue  Question  in  Germany,  Educational 
Review,  March,  '98;  Burnham,  Fatigue,  New  York  Teachers^  Mono- 
graph, Vol.  Ill,  No.  4;  Spencer y  Education;  Maclaren,  Physical 
Education;  Lagrange,  Physiology  of  Bodily  Exercise;  Wood,  Brain- 
work  and  Overwork;  U.  S.  Commissioner's  Report  for  1898. 

A  Sound  Mind  in  a  Sound  Body.  —  The  first  six  years  of 
the  child's  life  are  devoted  chiefly  to  physical  growth.  The 
child  must  learn  to  walk,  to  use  its  hands,  to  control  bodily 
activities;  it  must  acquire  regular  habits  of  sleep,  of  taking 
food,  of  caring  for  its  physical  needs.  Its  physical  develop- 
ment is  brought  about  chiefly  through  play.  Its  very  rest- 
lessness, its  ceaseless  activity  is  a  means  which  nature  pro- 
vides for  developing  the  physical  powers.  The  child  that 
is  inactive  is  ill  either  in  body  or  mind,  or  both,  for  physical 
activity  is  a  law  for  the  normal  being,  a  law  which  continues 
in  force  as  long  as  the  body  is  coming  to  maturity,  and  which 
is  closely  allied  to  intellectual  growth  all  through  life. 

Locke  taught  the  principle,  *^A  sound  mind  in  a  soimd 
body,"  asserting  that  there  can  be  no  complete  and  success- 
ful mental  development  unless  there  is  corresponding  phys- 
ical development.  While  he  himself  struggled  with  disease 
all  his  life,  he  believed  that  far  greater  success  would  have 
crowned  his  efforts  had  he  possessed  a  sound  body.  He 
therefore  laid  down  a  set  of  rules  as  to  the  food,  sleep, 
physical  exercise,  and  clothing  of  children. 

198 


PHYSICAL   DEVELOPMENT  I99 

Montaigne  writes,  **I  would  have  the  youth's  outward 
behaviour  and  mien  and  the  disposition  of  his  hmbs  formed 
at  the  same  time  with  his  mind.  It  is  not  the  soul,  it  is  not 
the  body,  that  we  are  training  up,  but  a  man,  and  we  ought 
not  to  divide  him/'  Rousseau  says,  "Exercise,  therefore, 
not  only  the  physical  strength  but  also  the  senses  that 
direct  it,  make  the  best  possible  use  of  each,  and  verify  the 
impressions  of  one  by  those  of  another.  To  learn  to  think, 
therefore,  we  should  learn  to  exercise  our  limbs,  senses, 
organs,  since  these  are  the  instruments  of  our  intelligence, 
and  in  order  to  make  the  best  use  of  these  instruments  it 
is  necessary  that  the  body  which  produced  them  should 
be  robust  and  healthy." 

"The  laws  of  health  are  the  laws  of  God,  and  are  as 
binding  as  the  Decalogue,"  asserts  Colonel  Parker.  Dr. 
Hunger  declares  that,  "You  will  never  get  fine  thought  out 
of  a  coarse  body.  Nor  less  will  you  get  a  sound  thought 
out  of  an  unsound  body.  The  bodily  condition  strikes 
through  and  shows  itself  in  the  quality  of  the  thought.  A 
vast  amount  of  the  poor,  illogical,  insipid,  morbid,  extrav- 
agant, pessimistic  thought  that  finds  its  way  into  books 
and  sermons  and  conversation  has  its  origin  in  poor  bodies 
and  bad  health.  The  body  lies  at  the  basis  of  success  in 
all  respects.  A  poor  body  means  a  poor  life  all  the  way 
up,  even  to  the  highest  stages  of  spiritual  life.  Any  relig- 
ious experience  that  is  connected  with  a  weak  or  diseased 
body  is  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion.  There  can  be  no 
healthy  thought,  no  normal  feeling,  no  sound  judgment,  no 
vigorous  action,  except  in  connection  with  a  sound  body." 

G.  Stanley  Hall  believes  that  morals  are  largely  depend- 
ent upon  the  condition  of  the  body.     "I  plead  strongly  for 


200  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

physical  education  on  the  ground  of  good  morals.  I 
believe  that  the  temptations  that  assail  young  people  nowa- 
days are  to  quite  an  extent  those  that  would  not  overcome 
them  if  their  muscles  were  strong.  They  are  of  that  insid- 
ious, corroding,  undermining  kind  that  are  somehow  or 
other  so  prone  to  creep  in  as  the  contractile  tissues  become 
relaxed  and  habitually  flabby." 

The  usefulness  of  that  apostle  of  American  education, 
Horace  Mann,  eminent  though  it  certainly  was,  undoubt- 
edly was  seriously  impaired  and  his  life  shortened  by  a 
weak  body,  caused  by  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  health. 
He  says,  ^^At  college  I  was  taught  the  motions  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies,  as  if  their  keeping  in  their  orbits  depended 
upon  my  knowing  them,  while  I  was  in  profound  ignorance 
of  the  laws  of  health  of  my  own  body.  The  rest  of  my 
life  was,  in  consequence,  one  long  battle  with  exhausted 
energies." 

**Mind  and  body  should  be  viewed  as  the  two  well- 
fitting  halves  of  a  perfect  whole,  designed  in  true  accord 
mutually  to  sustain  and  support  each  other,  and  each 
worthy  of  our  unwearied  care  and  unstinted  attention,  to 
be  given  with  fuller  faith  and  more  reverent  trust  than  they 
have  who  would  argue  that  He  who  united  in  us  our  two- 
fold nature  made  them  incompatible,  inharmonious, 
opposed.  No,  no;  even  blind  and  blundering  man  does 
not  yoke  two  oxen  together  to  pull  against  each  other. 
Mind  and  body  can  pull  well  together  in  the  same  team  if 
the  burden  be  fairly  adjusted."  ^ 


*   Maclaren,  "Physical  Education,"  p.  34. 


PHYSICAL   DEVELOPMENT  201 

Nourishment.  —  If  the  child  comes  to  school  ill-fed  and 
ill-nourished,  it  is  certain  that  he  cannot  perform  the  tasks 
that  may  be  expected  of  one  in  normal  condition.  It 
has  been  observed  that  in  times  of  great  strikes,  when 
there  is  a  scarcity  of  food  in  the  home,  and  uncertainty 
as  to  the  necessary  supplies  in  the  families  of  the  strikers, 
that  there  is  a  marked  diminution  in  the  ability  of  their 
children  to  perform  the  ordinary  school  requirements. 
Doubtless  the  lawlessness  and  agitated  state  of  mind  pre- 
vailing, affects  not  only  the  discipline  of  the  school,  but 
also  the  ability  to  study.  But  the  chief  cause  of  the  falling 
off  in  work  is  found  to  be  the  depleted  condition  of  the 
body.  Children  of  the  extremely  poor  are  ever  placed  at 
a  great  disadvantage  from  this  cause.  London,  Paris, 
Berlin,  and  other  great  cities  provide  food  for  children  of 
the  poor,  in  order  that  they  may  be  able  to  do  bettet  school 
work.  It  is  recognized  that  it  is  useless  to  expect  good 
intellectual  work  if  the  body  is  poorly  nourished,  hence 
the  expenditure  of  public  funds  for  food  is  ultimately  an 
economy  in  the  matter  of  education. 

Splendid  school  buildings,  modern  apparatus,  efficient 
teachers  call  for  large  expenditure  of  money.  All  of  these 
things  avail  nothing  if  the  child  is  not  in  condition  to  be 
taught.  Therefore  the  State  may  well  consider  the  ques- 
tion of  the  physical  ability  of  the  child  to  study  as  depend- 
ent upon  nourishment,  as  it  already  considers  the  matter 
of  the  eyesight,  and  contagious  diseases  among  children. 

That  weakness  of  the  body  affects  the  mind,  is  shown 
by  the  decreased  mental  power  caused  by  severe  illness,  in 
feeble-minded  children,  and  in  forms  of  insanity.  Long- 
continued  illness,  like  a  case  of  typhoid  fever,  pneumonia. 


202  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

or  consumption,  not  only  reduces  the  vigor  of  the  body, 
but  also  that  of  the  mind,  which  shows  itself  by  peevish- 
ness, childishness,  and  other  evidences  that  do  not  appear 
when  the  body  is  sound.  Mental  power  returns  only 
with  the  restoration  of  health.  In  the  case  of  the  feeble- 
minded, it  may  be  stated  that  the  length  of  their  lives  is 
generally  inversely  to  the  degree  of  their  weak-mindedness. 
Idiots  are  usually  short-lived.  Authorities  state  that  the 
average  length  of  life  of  those  classed  as  feeble-minded  is 
about  twenty-one  years,  while  that  of  mankind  generally 
is  about  forty.  And  the  efforts  of  institutions  for  the  feeble- 
minded in  stimulating  their  minds,  as  well  as  caring  for 
their  bodies,  have  resulted  in  increasing  the  length  of  their 
lives  by  about  three  years  within  the  last  two  decades.  One 
rarely  meets  a  person  destitute  of  mind,  an  idiot,  who 
reaches  maturity. 

The  same  law  holds  in  insanity.  Violently  insane  per- 
sons seldom  live  more  than  four  years,  usually  much  less 
than  this,  while  mild  cases  may  live  many  years.  It  is 
certain  that  there  is  a  close  relationship  between  the  mental 
and  the  physical  activities,  each  mutually  supporting  and 
affecting  the  other.  Of  course  there  are  exceptional  cases 
where  these  laws  do  not  hold.  Rosenkranz  remarks, 
^^  Mens  Sana  in  cor  pore  sano  is  correct  as  a  pedagogical 
maxim,  but  false  in  the  judgment  of  individual  cases; 
because  it  is  possible,  on  the  one  hand,  to  have  a  healthy 
mind  in  an  unhealthy  body,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  an 
unhealthy  mind  in  a  healthy  body.  Nevertheless,  to  strive 
after  the  harmony  of  soul  and  body  is  the  material  condi- 
tion of  all  normal  activity.  The  development  of  intelli- 
gence presupposes  physical  health." 


PHYSICAL   DEVELOPMENT  203 

The  care  of  the  human  body  is  then  essentially  an  educa- 
tional question.  Knowledge  of  food,  clothing,  cleanliness, 
fatigue,  and  rest,  as  well  as  other  matters  pertaining  to  the 
body  should  be  possessed  by  the  teacher  and  taught  to  chil- 
dren. While  works  on  physiology  and  hygiene  must  be 
consulted  for  details,  the  subject  is  so  important  to  peda- 
gogy that  a  discussion  of  elementary  principles  will  not  be 
out  of  place. 

I.  Food,  —  The  American  people  generally  are  ignorant 
as  to  the  nature,  use,  and  character  of  foods.  Hot-breads, 
prepared  breakfast  foods,  sweetmeats,  and  mixtures  totally 
incongruous  and  harmful  are  swallowed  with  impunity. 
As  a  result,  perverted  and  unnatural  appetites  are  created, 
indigestion  invited,  and  stomach  and  intestinal  disorders 
have  become  most  common.  These  conditions  invite 
gross  forms  of  intemperance  in  eating  and  drinking  in  order 
to  satisfy  the  unnatural  craving  that  has  been  created. 
Most  states  in  the  Union  require  instruction  in  the  public 
schools  as  to  the  nature  and  effect  of  alcohol  upon  the 
human  system.  A  much  more  salutary  effect  would  be 
produced  directly  in  furthering  the  cause  of  temperance,  as 
well  as  in  establishing  the  health  of  the  people,  if  such  teach- 
ing were  preceded,  accompanied,  and  supplemented  by 
intelligent  and  practical  instruction  as  to  the  nature  and 
use  of  foods.  For  there  is  intemperance  in  eating  as  well 
as  in  drinking,  possibly  fully  as  serious  when  one  considers 
the  far  more  general  character  of  the  former,  and  that  it 
very  often  leads  to  the  latter. 

Such  intelligent  instruction  is  carried  on  in  every  school 
in  Germany.  I  once  witnessed  the  instruction  given  to 
a  class  of  six-year-old  boys  in  Leipsic  on  the  subject  of 


204  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

bread.  The  teacher  asked,  ''How  old  must  bread  be  before 
it  is  eaten?''  The  answer  was,  ''Not  less  than  twenty- 
four  hours."  It  is  instruction  of  this  character  that  has 
taught  the  German  people  to  abstain  from  the  use  of 
fresh  bread,  and  of  other  harmful  foods,  as  well  as  to 
know  the  nature  of  foods  that  may  be  mixed  and  those 
that  may  not  be.  As  a  consequence  of  such  instruction, 
one  rarely  meets  with  a  dyspeptic  among  that  people, 
and  gross  forms  of  drunkenness  are  by  no  means  so  com- 
mon as  in  this  country.  The  use  of  candies  and  sweet- 
meats is  discouraged,  the  amount  of  sugar  consumed  being 
less  than  one-fourth  per  capita  of  that  consumed  in  this 
country. 

Instruction  should  be  given  not  only  as  to  the  kind  of 
food  essential  to  good  health,  but  also  as  to  the  quantity. 
Physicians  assert  that  most  people  eat  too  much  rather  than 
too  little.  Without  doubt  the  death  or  permanent  disabil- 
ity of  so  many  men  in  middle  life  is  owing,  not  so  much  to 
the  strenuous  life  they  live,  as  to  the  eating  of  highly- 
seasoned,  incongruous,  and  unsuited  foods,  and  eating 
them  at  the  highest  possible  rate  of  speed.  In  this  respect 
we  need  to  learn  the  lesson  of  the  "simple  life,"  thereby 
increasing  the  capacity  for  labor,  lessening  the  ravages  of 
disease,  fortifying  the  system  against  its  attacks,  and  thus 
materially  lengthening  life. 

The  purpose  here  is  to  call  attention  to  the  necessity  of 
such  instruction  as  a  part  of  practical  education.  Surely 
there  is  none  more  practical,  for  the  right  food  is  necessary 
for  health,  and  without  health  it  is  impossible  to  reach  the 
highest  intellectual  development.  The  details  as  to  foods 
will  be  found  in  every  good  physiology;  happily  recent 


PHYSICAL    DEVELOPMENT  205 

works  on   this  subject  are  giving  attention  to  this  vital 
question/ 

2.  Clothing.  —  The  primary  purpose  of  clothing  is  to 
protect  the  body  against  the  loss  of  heat  and  keep  it  at 
normal  temperature.  Hence  the  material  chosen  should 
be  such  as  to  prevent  the  escape  of  bodily  warmth  in  cold 
weather,  and  allow  it  in  warm  weather.  Wool,  being  a 
poor  conductor  of  heat,  is  therefore  more  suitable  for  the 
winter,  and  linen  and  cotton  being  good  conductors  are 
selected  for  summer  wear.  '^  The  amount  of  clothing  which 
one  needs  depends  largely  upon  a  person's  occupation  and 
previous  habits.  A  day  laborer  seldom  needs  an  over- 
coat, but  works  in  his  shirt  sleeves,  while  a  clerk  would  be 
chilled  were  he  to  step  outdoors  without  extra  wraps.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  think  that  by  exposure  to  the  cold  one  can 
always  become  hardened  to  it.  It  is  true  only  when  a 
person  takes  active  exercise  and  lives  out  of  doors  contin- 
uously. The  body  cannot  adapt  itself  to  the  sudden  changes 
from  hours  spent  in  a  warm  room  to  an  hour  or  two  in  the 
cold  air.  Enough  clothing  should  be  worn  so  that  the 
body  does  not  feel  chilled  on  entering  the  cold  air. ''  Cloth- 
ing, like  food,  is  essential  to  keep  the  body  at  its  normal 
temperature,  without  which  health  cannot  be  maintained. 

Every  individual  should  understand  the  danger  of 
exposure  to  draughts.  Colds  are  taken,  pneumonia  invited, 
and  diseases  contracted  which  may  be  difficult  of  removal, 
through  sitting  in  a  draught.  A  few  moments  in  a  draught 
may  do  the  deadly  damage,  while  consequences  arising 
from  a  stuffy  room  are  not  so  immediate.     Because  the 

^  I  call  especial  attention  to  Chapters  XII  and  XIII  of  Overton's  "Applied 
Physiology,  Advanced,"  on  "Animal  and  Vegetable  Food." 


206  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

draught  is  pleasant  to  one  suffering  from  heat,  careless  and 
inconsiderate  persons  take  chances  that  often  involve 
later  suffering.  Two  mothers  with  sleeping  babes  in  their 
arms,  entered  a  trolley-car  about  nine  o'clock  one  October 
evening.  They  sat  with  the  windows  open  in  front  of 
them  and  a  perfect  hurricane  blowing  upon  the  faces  of  the 
babies  when  the  car  was  in  motion.  They  seemed  to  be 
utterly  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  they  were  exposing  their 
offspring  to  deadly  danger.  The  ignorance  and  indiffer- 
ence of  most  people  in  regard  to  this  matter  are  appalling. 
Children  should  be  trained  to  avoid  draughts  whether  in  a 
car,  a  public  hall,  the  home,  or  the  schoolroom.  Especially 
dangerous  are  draughts  when  one  is  freely  perspiring.  A 
moment's  exposure  will  often  result  in  a  cold.  Hence  care- 
ful athletes  cover  themselves  with  wraps  whenever  a  respite 
in  a  game  occurs,  even  though  it  be  but  for  one  or  two 
minutes'  duration. 

3.  Cleanliness.  —  Rosenkranz  says,  "  Cleanliness  is  a  vir- 
tue to  which  children  should  be  accustomed  for  the  sake  of 
theirphysical  well-being,  as  well  as  because,  in  a  moral  point 
of  view,  it  is  of  great  significance."  It  teaches  good  order  and 
system,  it  inculcates  a  sense  of  fitness  of  surroundings,  and 
is  disturbed  when  things  are  out  of  harmony.  It  is  very  essen- 
tial that  the  schoolroom  be  kept  neat  and  clean,  that  the 
walls  be  decorated,  that  school  books  and  school  apparatus 
be  taken  care  of.  There  are  aesthetic  as  well  as  hygienic 
reasons  for  keeping  text-books  clean  and  properly  covered. 
Attention  should  be  given  to  the  cleanliness  of  person  and 
dress  of  pupils.  No  school  can  secure  the  highest  educa- 
tional development,  especially  from  the  standpoint  of 
morals,  that  fails  to  inculcate  habits  of  cleanliness.     And 


PHYSICAL   DEVELOPMENT  207 

wise  instruction  in  this  matter  will  not  only  lead  the  pupils 
to  come  to  school  clean  and  decent,  but  will  also  affect 
their  home  habits  and  life.  Where  the  sentiment  of  the 
school  demands  neat  but  inexpensive  clothing,  and  clean- 
liness of  person,  every  child,  whatever  be  his  home  environ- 
ment, will  be  affected  thereby  and  gradually  acquire  the 
prevailing  habits.  Definite  instruction  as  to  the  manner  of 
keeping  clean  and  the  physical  and  moral  benefits  to  be 
derived  therefrom,  should  be  patiently  given  to  all  children, 
in  addition  to  the  good  example  set.  The  school  that 
neglects  this  duty  cannot  attain  to  a  high  standard  of 
morals.  Every  school  should  be  provided  with  such  ac- 
commodations as  modesty  and  decency  require,  and  it  is 
incumbent  upon  the  teacher  to  insist  upon  strictest  cleanli- 
ness for  hygienic  as  well  as  moral  reasons. 

4.  Fatigue  and  Rest,  —  A  careful  study  of  fatigue  has 
revealed  some  notable  results.  For  instance,  Wagner  found 
that  the  effects  of  fatigue  produced  by  various  subjects  may 
be  represented  as  follows:  Mathematics  (higher),  100; 
Latin,  91;  Greek,  90;  history,  85;  geography,  85 ;  arithme- 
tic, French,  and  German,  82;  natural  science,  80;  drawing 
and  religion,  77.  This  table  would  suggest  that  as  a  change 
from  one  subject  to  an  easier  one  serves,  temporarily  at 
least,  to  lessen  and  relieve  fatigue,  the  arrangement  of  the 
daily  schedule  of  work  should  be  based  upon  the  principle 
of  alternating  the  easy  with  the  difficult  subjects.  It  cer- 
tainly proves  that  the  arrangement  of  the  program  of 
studies  requires  careful  thought.* 

There  are  certain  signs  of  fatigue  that  are  manifest  to  the 

^  See  chapter  on  "  The  Daily  Program  "  in  ** Foundations  of  Education.** 


208  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

casual  observer.  Some  one  has  outlined  these  signs  as 
follows:  '^Physical  signs  —  (i)  angles  of  mouth  depressed, 
(2)  furrows  across  the  forehead,  (3)  eyes  wandering,  (4) 
coloration  beneath  the  eyes,  (5)  white  lines  around  the 
mouth,  (6)  bluish  spots  on  cheek  and  neck,  (7)  pulse  un- 
usually slow  or  rapid,  (8)  frequent  attacks  of  headache, 
(9)  awkward  position  of  body,  (10)  neurasthenic  voice,  (11) 
unnatural  action,  (12)  general  appearance  of  depression. 
Mental  signs —  (i)  lack  of  ability  to  give  attention,  (2) 
weakening  of  perception,  (3)  unreadiness  and  inaccuracy 
of  judgment,  (4)  diminishing  power  of  insight,  (5)  loss  of 
sensitiveness,  (6)  lack  of  self-control,  (7)  lessened  work- 
rate,  (8)  lengthened  reaction  time,  (9)  deep  sense  of  misery 
in  the  morning,  (10)  one  or  more  insistent  ideas  which  can- 
not be  thrown  off.'' 

It  must  be  admitted  that  these  manifestations,  especially 
of  the  latter,  are  not  always  chargeable  to  fatigue.  They 
may  be  caused  by  lack  of  interest,  by  the  dull  manner  and 
want  of  enthusiasm  of  the  teacher,  by  an  unnatural  method 
of  presentation  of  the  subject,  by  ignorance  of  the  subject- 
matter  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  or  by  an  inherent  dislike 
for  the  subject  on  the  part  of  the  pupil,  which  causes  him 
to  seem  bored.  But  generally  speaking,  the  signs  above 
given  are  evidences  of  fatigue. 

True  fatigue  must  not  be  considered  as  imnatural,  or  even 
undesirable.  It  presupposes  activity,  which  is  essential  to 
himian  development,  both  physical  and  mental.  Proper  and 
healthful  fatigue  is  followed  by  sweet  and  refreshing  sleep. 
The  laborer  who  drags  his  tired  limbs  to  his  home  at  even- 
tide after  a  day's  hard  work  rarely  suffers  from  insomnia. 
The  child  that  has  been  active  all  day  in  play  falls  into 


PHYSICAL   DEVELOPMENT  209 

slumber  as  soon  as  he  touches  his  bed  at  night.  Over- 
exertion and  over- weariness  are  to  be  guarded  against,  but 
not  that  healthful  weariness  which  is  the  natural  result  of 
physical  or  mental  activity.  Every  one  should  work  enough 
to  get  tired.  The  body  will  be  made  healthier  thereby,  the 
mind  happier  and  more  contented,  and  rest  sweeter.  But 
overwork  exacts  an  inevitable  penalty.  It  may  be  sleepless- 
ness —  *^I  am  too  tired  to  sleep,"  is  a  common  expression; 
it  may  break  down  the  health,  it  may  bring  the  victim  pre- 
maturely to  the  grave.  A  sure  test  as  to  the  sufficiency  of 
sleep  is  found  in  the  answer  to  the  question,  *^Are  you 
rested  when  you  get  up  in  the  morning?''  Many  a  man 
has  succumbed  to  the  inexorable  laws  of  nature  far  too  early 
in  life  because  he  has  ^^ burned  the  candle  at  both  ends,'' 
because  he  has  set  too  hard  a  pace.  Broken  health  or 
death  is  the  fate  of  many  who  might  have  been  vigorous 
and  useful  for  many  years  had  they  obeyed  the  laws  of 
health,  husbanded  their  strength,  and  allowed  fatigue  to  be 
followed  by  suitable  and  complete  rest. 

Again,  it  has  been  remarked  that  "  an  understanding  of 
the  laws  governing  overwork,  and  the  penalties  of  over- 
exertion should  be  of  the  utmost  value  to  every  student  and 
worker.  When  a  man  is  tired  he  has,  either  by  inactivity 
or  over-activity,  committed  a  chemical,  physiological,  and 
psychological  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  human  economy, 
and  is  then  in  no  condition  to  withstand  the  wear  and  tear 
of  life.  Fatigue  is  the  result  of  labor,  and  as  such  is  a 
periodic  symptom  with  which  every  healthy  person  should 
be  familiar.  It  is  one  of  the  laws  of  organic  life  that 
periods  of  relaxation  shall  succeed  periods  of  activity. 
The  heart  itself  is  normally  in  repose  for  about  one-third 


2IO  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

of  the  time  consumed  by  each  beat  —  a  fact  in  which 
there  is  something  pecuHarly  suggestive,  since  it  is  generally 
agreed  that  about  one-third  of  the  twenty-four  hours 
should  be  devoted  to  sleep.  Life  itself  is  made  up  of  a 
series  of  vibrations,  in  which  tension  and  rest  succeed 
each  other.  The  heart  vibrates  about  seventy  times  per 
minute;  the  vibrations  of  the  respiratory  organs  occur 
about  sixteen  times  within  the  same  period;  while  the 
vibrations  of  the  whole  organism  may  be  said  to  complete 
their  cycle  once  in  the  twenty-four  hours. 

**An  abnormal  fatigue,  a  state  approaching  exhaustion, 
occurs  when  one  attempts  to  alter  nature's  rhythm,  when 
the  hours  of  tension  are  made  to  encroach  upon  those 
which  should  be  devoted  to  rest,  when  brain,  and  muscle, 
and  nerve  are  driven  to  the  furthest  exertion.  Fatigue 
of  the  kind  known  as  over-training  results,  in  the  case  of 
the  athlete,  in  heart  weakness  and  shortness  of  breath; 
while  the  long-continued  fatigue  occasioned  by  excessive 
application  to  study,  or  to  business  or  professional  pursuits, 
results  often  in  nervous  prostration,  and  not  infrequently 
lays  the  foundation  for  paralysis.'' 

A  change  of  occupation  may  rest  some  muscles  that  have 
been  overworked  while  it  brings  into  activity  other  muscles 
that  have  been  idle.  A  similar  result  is  also  true  in  mental 
work.  But  absolute  relief  from  general  fatigue  can  only 
be  obtained  by  rest. 

Dr.  Lukens  says,  ^*  Change  of  work  in  school  is,  never- 
theless, undoubtedly  advantageous.  In  the  first  place,  the 
interruptions  give  a  time  for  recreation ;  secondly  —  and 
this  is  the  most  important  reason  —  the  school  subjects  do 
not  all  require  an  equal  effort  of  attention  and  an  equal 


PHYSICAL    DEVELOPMENT  211 

expenditure  of  energy.  After  a  difficult  lesson  an  easy 
lesson  will  afford  an  opportunity  for  a  partial  recovery  from 
the  fatigue  previously  produced.  The  change  of  work, 
therefore,  must  not  be  merely  a  change  of  subject,  or  even 
a  change  of  occupation,  but  a  change  in  the  difficulty  of  the 
task.  Easy  and  difficult  must  alternate.  Thirdly,  we  may 
obtain  refreshment  by  change  of  work,  on  account  of  the 
fresher  mood  with  which  we  turn  to  new  work.  Of  course 
this  change  must  not  be  too  frequent  or  sudden ;  in  that  case 
it  becomes  an  unpleasant  disturbance,  owing  to  the  diffi- 
culty we  feel  in  going  from  one  mood  to  another.  In  order 
to  work  well  we  must  gain  the  necessary  absorption  in 
the  subject-matter,  our  feelings  must  harmonize,  and  our 
thoughts  directed  toward  the  object.  In  this  way  we 
become  'warmed  up'  to  a  subject,  and  this  warmth  is  all 
lost  when  we  go  over  to  an  entirely  different  subject." 

As  sleep  is  the  only  complete  restoration  for  fatigue,  it 
may  be  asked,  ''How  much  sleep  is  necessary?''  Doubt- 
less some  people  require  more  sleep  than  others.  A  Napo- 
leon may  be  satisfied  with  a  daily  average  of  four  hours, 
while  many  others  need  ten.  Children,  who  are  active, 
need  more  sleep  than  adults.  The  average  person  needs 
about  eight  hours,  and  time  devoted  to  sleep  must  by  no 
means  be  considered  wasted.  It  restores  the  body  to  its 
normal  strength,  refreshes  and  reinvigorates  all  the  facul- 
ties, and  prepares  for  the  activities  of  a  new  day.  Sleep 
is  a  great,  an  indescribable  blessing,  and  the  proper  time 
devoted  to  it  should  not  be  begrudged. 

As  to  the  application  of  these  principles  to  the  school, 
Griesbach  demands  "  (i)  No  scientific  work  in  the  after- 
noons;  (2)  later  beginning  of  the  school  in  the  morning 


2 1 2  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

(never  before  eight,  the  German  schools  often  begin  at 
seven  in  the  summer);  (3)  abohshment,  as  far  as  possible, 
of  school  examinations;  (4)  reduction  of  home-work,  and 
especially  less  mechanical  learning  by  heart." 

5.  Gymnastics,  —  Left  to  itself  the  body  is  apt  to  ac- 
quire unnatural,  and  perhaps  uncouth  proportions,  and 
lack  that  grace  which  is  an  evidence  of  perfect  self-control. 
Therefore  the  physical  body  must  receive  special  training. 
The  whole  man  is  to  be  educated,  and  if  the  body  is  not 
properly  developed  all  the  other  powers  are  affected,  as 
has  already  been  shown.  Gymnastics  seeks  to  give  the 
body  grace  of  movement,  self-control,  and  complete  self- 
command.  Indeed,  Rosenkranz  well  remarks,*  '*The 
fundamental  idea  of  gynmastics  must  always  be  that  the 
spirit  shall  rule  over  its  body  and  make  this  an  energetic  and 
docile  servant  of  the  will.  Strength  and  adroitness  must 
imite  and  become  confident  skill.  Strength,  carried  to  its 
extreme,  produces  the  athlete;  adroitness,  to  its  extreme, 
the  acrobat.  Education  must  avoid  both.  All  gigantic 
strength,  as  well  as  acrobatic  skill,  fit  only  for  display,  must 
be  discouraged  and  so  too  must  be  the  idea  of  teaching  gym- 
nastics with  the  motive  of  utility;  e.g,  that  by  swimming 
one  may  save  his  life  when  he  falls  into  the  water,  etc. 
Among  other  things,  utility  may  be  the  consequence;  but 
the  principle  in  general  must  always  be  the  necessity  of  the 
spirit  subjecting  its  bodily  organism  to  the  condition  of  a 
perfect  instrument,  so  that  it  may  ever  find  it  equal  to  the 
execution  of  its  will." 

Physical  exercises  in  general  are  usually  classified  as 
follows: 

*   "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  65. 


PHYSICAL   DEVELOPMENT  213 

a.  Exercises  of  strength,  requiring  strong  efifort  of  the 
will,  fixation  of  the  chest,  and  straining  of  the  muscles  to 
the  utmost.  They  include  wrestling,  and  lifting  of  heavy 
weights,  and  are  unsuited  to  children. 

b.  Exercises  of  skill,  intended  to  train  the  power  of 
co5rdination;  they  involve  brain  and  nerve  activity,  with 
more  or  less  muscular  exertion.  They  include  compound 
movements  in  calisthenics,  work  with  apparatus,  such  as, 
the  vaulting  horse  and  horizontal  bar,  and  are  excellent 
for  all  ages  up  to  and  including  the  early  years  of  maturity. 
They  are  carried  to  the  extreme  in  manual  training,  per- 
forming on  musical  instruments  and  handicraft  work 
generally. 

c.  Exercises  of  quickness,  requiring  the  repetition  of 
similar  movements  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  resulting 
in  very  great  activity  of  heart  and  lungs,  and,  when 
carried  too  far,  temporarily  exhausting  these  organs. 
They  include  racing  in  all  its  forms,  running,  climbing, 
etc.     In  moderate  degrees,  they  are  excellent  for  children. 

d.  Exercises  of  endurance,  requiring  a  moderate  degree 
of  exertion  in  movements  kept  up  for  a  long  period. 
They  include  such  exercises  as  long  distance  racing. 
They  are  exhaustive  in  their  effects,  particularly  upon  the 
will,  and  are  unsuited  to  children. 

e.  Exercises  of  the  attention,  requiring  a  small  amount 
of  muscular  effort,  but  making  great  demand  on  the 
attention.  As  illustration  of  these  may  be  mentioned 
marching  in  its  various  forms,  and  the  learning  of  new 
movements    of    all   kinds.     For    persons    that   are    hard 


214  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

worked    mentally,  these    exercises    should    be    employed 
sparingly. 

/.  Exercises  of  alertness,  involving  quick  response  to 
varying  conditions.  They  include  most  games,  especially  of 
a  competitive  nature.  They  are  particularly  enjoyed  by 
children,  and  are  beneficial  for  almost  all  years,  up  to 
middle  life. 

While  there  is  some  over-lapping  in  the  different  divis- 
ions in  this  classification,  the  scheme  outlined  is  the  one 
generally  followed  by  the  leaders  in  the  department  of 
physical  training  at  the  present  time. 

By  means  of  attention  to  food,  clothing,  cleanliness,  and 
proper  physical  exercise,  a  better  understanding  of  the  laws 
of  health,  and  the  enforcement  of  sanitary  regulations,«the 
death  rate  has  been  considerably  reduced.  In  1867,  the 
death  rate  of  New  York  City  was  32.27  persons  in  the 
thousand.  In  1904  it  was  18.2,  being  a  sa\dng  of  14.07 
persons  to  the  thousand,  or  nearly  one-half.  This  would 
be  56,280  lives  saved  each  year  in  a  city  of  4,000,000 
inhabitants.  A  like  saving  in  the  80,000,000  population  of 
the  whole  country  would  mean  that  over  1,000,000  persons 
who  go  down  to  untimely  graves  would  be  spared,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  increased  efficiency  of  the  whole  population 
because  of  more  vigorous  health.  Surely  the  problem  of 
physical  training,  as  well  as  education  in  the  laws  of 
health,  becomes  of  mighty  import,  not  only  to  educators, 
but  also  to  statesmen,  philanthropists,  and  public  econo- 
mists everywhere. 


PHYSICAL   DEVELOPMENT  2l^ 

Summary 

I.  Intellectual  and  moral  development  is  closely  connected 
with  the  development  of  the  body.  Hence  specific  instruc- 
tion upon  all  matters  that  affect  the  physical  being  should  be 
included  in  every  system  of  education.  Especial  attention 
should  be  given  to  fatigue  and  rest.  While  change  of  occu- 
pation may  afford  temporary  relief,  sleep  is  necessary  to 
obtain  absolute  rest. 

II.  The  fundamental  principle  of  gymnastics  is  that  '^  the 
spirit  shall  rule  over  its  body  and  make  this  an  energetic  and 
docile  servant  of  the  wilL^' 


CHAPTER   XIV 

INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT 

References.  —  Home,  Philosophy  of  Education;  Tompkins, 
Philosophy  of  Teaching;  Froebel,  Education  of  Man;  Bowen, 
Froebel  and  Education  Through  Self -Activity;  Rosmini,  Method  in 
Education;  Parker,  Talks  on  Pedagogics. 

To  many  the  whole  conception  of  education  is  embraced 
in  the  development  of  the  intellect.  We  have  shown  that 
the  whole  man  must  be  educated.  Without  doubt,  how- 
ever, the  work  of  the  school  is  centered  in  the  intellectual 
development  of  the  child,  and  upon  this  idea  is  focused  all 
other  discipline,  even  though  it  be  recognized  that  the 
highest  end  of  education  is  moral  character. 

Self -Activity.  —  The  first  essential  to  success  is  the 
arousing  of  the  child's  self-activity.  Unless  this  is  done 
there  can  be  no  education.  Rosenkranz  well  remarks,^ 
*^A11  apparatus  is  dead,  all  arrangement  of  no  avail,  all 
teaching  fruitless,  if  the  pupil  does  not  by  his  free  self- 
activity  receive  into  his  inner  self  what  one  teaches  him, 
and  then  make  it  his  own  property." 

Dn  Hervey,  in  discussing  "The  Doctrine  of  Self- Activity," 
says:^  *'0f  all  the  conceptions  that  give  aid  and  comfort  to 
the  teacher,  that  of  self-activity  is  one  of  the  most  inspiring 
and  fruitful.  The  notion  is  a  fundamental  one  in  philoso- 
phy and  psychology,  and  it  is  therefore    basal  in  educa- 

^   "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  115. 
»  New  York,  "Teachers'  Monograph,"  Oct.  1901. 
216 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  21/ 

tion.  This  fact  was  never  more  clearly  recognized  than  it  is 
to-day.  In  modern  works  on  philosophy,  we  meet  again 
and  again  such  expressions  as  these :  '  Primal  being  can  be 
conceived  only  as  self-activity;'  ^  The  soul  is  self-activity. '  " 

"Imitation,  interest,  and  effort,*'  says  Horne,^  '^this  trin- 
ity of  wonderful  words,  each  representing  a  way  to  which 
the  self-active  mind  works  out  its  own  growth,  almost 
covers  the  theoretical  part  of  contemporary  educational 
discussions."  Arnold  Tompkins  remarks,  '^Whenever 
teaching  is  found  to  be  dead  it  is  because  the  teacher  strives 
to  induce  action  from  without,  instead  of  utilizing  the  self- 
activity  of  the  pupil.  Witness,  for  example,  the  dire  dis- 
tress of  the  teacher  in  striving  to  secure  oral  or  written 
expression  from  the  pupil  when  there  is  no  inner  motive 
to  expression!" 

No  apostle  of  education  has  laid  so  much  stress  upon  the 
principle  of  self-activity  as  Froebel.  He  asserts  that^ 
"The  prescriptive,  interfering  education,  indeed,  can  be 
justified  only  on  two  grounds;  either  because  it  teaches  the 
clear,  living  thought,  self-evident  truth,  or  because  it  holds 
up  a  life  whose  ideal  value  has  been  established  in  experi- 
ence. But,  where  self-evident,  living,  absolute  truth  rules, 
the  eternal  principle  itself  reigns,  as  it  were,  and  will  on 
this  account  maintain  a  passive,  following  character.  For 
the  living  thought,  the  eternal  living  principle  as  such  de- 
mands and  requires  free  self-activity  and  self-determina- 
tion on  the  part  of  man,  the  being  created  for  freedom  in 
the  image  of  God." 

Bo  wen  cites  from  Froebel  as  follows: '  "Instruction  begins 

^  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  175. 

*  "Education  of  Man,"  p.  11. 

'  "Froebel  and  Education  Through  Self-Activity, "  p.  29. 


2l8  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

in  the  fifth  year  of  the  child's  life  by  leading  him  simply 
to  find  himself  (get  the  command  of  his  senses),  to  distin- 
guish himself  from  external  things  and  these  from  one 
another,  to  know  clearly  what  he  sees  in  his  nearest  sur- 
roundings, and  at  the  same  time  to  designate  it  by  the  right 
word,  to  enjoy  his  first  knowledge  as  the  first  contribution 
towards  his  future  intellectual  treasure.  Self-activity  of 
mind  is  the  first  law  of  instruction ;  therefore  the  kind  of  in- 
struction given  here  does  not  make  the  young  mind  a  strong- 
box, into  which,  as  early  as  possible,  all  kinds  of  coins  of 
the  most  different  values  and  coinage,  such  as  are  now 
current  in  the  world,  are  stuffed;  but  slowly,  continuously, 
gradually,  and  always  inwardly,  that  is,  according  to  a  con- 
nection founded  on  the  nature  of  the  mind,  the  instruction 
goes  on  without  any  tricks  .  .  .  from  the  simple  to  the 
complex,  from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract,  so  well  adapted 
to  the  child  and  his  needs  that  he  goes  as  readily  to  his 
learning  as  to  his  play/' 

It  may  be  stated,  then,  that  the  first  essential  of  intellectual 
development  is  to  stimulate  self-activity  on  the  part  of  the 
person  to  be  taught.  Until  this  is  accomplished  all  effort 
at  instruction,  all  skill  in  method,  all  zeal,  enthusiasm,  and 
learning  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  is  in  vain. 

Attention.  —  Before  the  child  can  be  stimulated  to  intel- 
ligent and  proper  self-activity  his  attention  must  be  gained. 
Without  this  no  instruction  can  be  given,  no  knowledge 
acquired.  It  is  not  sufficient  to  demand  attention,  the 
interest  of  the  pupil  must  be  aroused.  Without  interest 
there  can  be  no  real  attention.  The  method  of  stimulating 
interest  will  depend  upon  the  maturity  of  the  children,  the 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  2ig 

subject  to  be  taught,  and  the  individuaHty  of  the  teacher. 
There  are  certain  general  principles,  however,  that  should 
be  borne  in  mind,  which  hold  true  in  all  cases.  These  will 
be  considered  later. 

But  what  is  meant  by  attention?  Rosmini  defines  it  as 
follows:  ** Attention  is  that  power  of  the  mind  which  directs 
the  intellect  to  one  object  rather  than  another;  attention 
itself,  again,  being  directed  by  sensible  wants.''  ^  Hughes 
says,^  *^  Attention  is  the  direction  of  the  powers  of  the  mind 
to  the  impressions  received  through  the  senses  or  to  subjects 
of  reflection." 

Colonel  Parker  very  clearly  sets  forth  that,  *' Attention  is  a 
process  of  mental  or  conscious  action  stimulated,  excited, 
aroused,  induced,  or  caused  by  the  attributes  of  external 
objects  upon  consciousness.''  Professor  James  remarks, 
*^To  excite  a  pupil's  attention  and  hold  it  is  the  greatest  task 
of  the  teacher's  life.  Our  ability  to  remember  a  thing  de- 
pends on  the  attention  we  give  to  it  when  under  considera- 
tion. There  are  many  external  methods  of  awakening 
attention,  but  to  gain  the  interest  is  more  effective.  You 
will  never  gain  attention  by  demanding  it,  unless  you 
awaken  the  child's  interest.  The  young  child  as  a  rule 
has  very  little  native  interest.  The  teacher  must  arouse 
and  hold  it  by  action  —  experiments,  anecdotes,  diagrams, 
drawings,  etc. 

*^How  can  we  get  the  child  interested  when  these  means 
cannot  be  used  ?  There  is  one  rule ;  you  must  connect  the 
new  matter  with  some  other  matter  that  you  know  the  child 
is  already  interested  in.     Associate  the  uninteresting  new 

^  "Method  in  Education,"  p.  50. 

'  "Securing  and  Retaining  Attention,"  p.  4. 


220  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

with  the  interesting  old  and  the  whole  will  become  interest- 
ing. This  is  the  abstract  principle,  but  the  application  is 
by  no  means  easy.  Here  the  teacher's  native  tact,  ingenu- 
ity, and  invention  are  demanded.  It  is  this  ability  that 
marks  the  born  teacher.'' 

Superintendent  Brooks  gives  nine  suggestions  for  securing 
attention:  *^  (i)  Manifest  an  interest  in  the  subject  you 
are  teaching.  (2)  Be  clear  in  thought  and  ready  in  expres- 
sion. (3)  Speak  in  your  natural  tone,  with  variety  and  flexi- 
bility of  voice.  (4)  Let  your  position  before  the  class  be 
usually  a  standing  one.  (5 )  Teach  without  a  book  as  far 
as  possible.  (6)  Assign  subjects  promiscuously  when  neces- 
sary. (7)  Use  concrete  methods  of  instruction  when  pos- 
sible. (8)  Vary  your  method,  as  variety  is  attractive  to 
children.  (9)  Determine  to  secure  attention  at  all  haz- 
ards." 

Ability  to  give  attention  may  be  taken  as  a  measure  of 
intellectual  power.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  ascribed  his  superior- 
ity over  other  men  in  intellectual  power  to  his  ability  to 
concentrate  his  attention.  There  are  four  steps  that  dis- 
tinguish the  powers  of  attention,  namely,  isolation,  analysis, 
abstraction,  and  the  essential  relations  of  analysis  and 
abstraction  to  each  other.  Let  us  consider  these  steps 
separately. 

I.  Isolation. — The  object  to  which  attention  is  called 
is  separate  from  others  so  that  it  stands  out  by  itself.  Thus 
a  tree  standing  in  an  open  field  is  an  object  of  greater  atten- 
tion than  it  would  be  in  a  forest;  a  man  dressed  in  fantastic 
costume  parades  the  streets  as  an  advertising  medium  — 
his  dress  isolates  him  from  others  and  he  is  able  to  attract 
attention  to  his  wares ;  an  advertiser  employs  skill  in  setting 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT  221 

type  SO  as  to  catch  the  eye  of  the  reader,  one  or  two  isolated 
articles  standing  out  prominently;  the  show-window  or 
parlor  of  a  millinery  establishment  exhibits  only  a  few  typi- 
cal hats  separated  from  each  other  on  standards,  thus 
attracting  attention  to  the  individual.  The  purpose  of 
advertising  is  to  attract  attention,  and  the  secret  of  it  lies 
in  the  ability  to  employ  the  principle  of  isolation.  Ex- 
amples might  be  multiplied  showing  that  the  first  essential 
in  winning  attention  is  to  isolate  the  object  from  all  others, 
and  the  same  law  holds  good  in  intellectual  as  well  as  in 
material  matters.  If  an  exercise  or  a  thought  is  to  be  con- 
sidered, it  must  first  be  set  apart  from  all  others.  The 
teacher  must  therefore  exclude  all  other  matter  but  the 
particular  thing  to  be  considered,  present  this  in  the  most 
vivid  manner,  and  employ  concrete  illustrations  with  young 
children.  Thus  may  attention  in  its  simplest  form  be 
gained. 

2.  Analysis.  —  When  the  attention  to  the  individual 
isolated  thing  has  been  gained,  the  next  step  is  to  analyze 
it  into  its  parts.  Thus  if  an  advertisement  catches  the  eye, 
wins  the  attention,  it  will  be  read  to  see  what  is  offered. 
The  description  of  the  article  advertised,  its  price,  by  whom 
offered,  etc.,  will  be  taken  into  account,  the  attention  being 
intensified  in  proportion  to  the  needs  of  the  reader  and 
to  the  skill  of  the  appeal  made.  Or  the  hat  that  gains 
attention  as  it  stands  isolated  is  examined  as  to  its  shape, 
its  trimmings,  its  color,  its  materials,  its  style.  The  tree 
standing  alone  in  the  field  is  noticed  as  to  its  shape,  its 
foliage,  its  kind.  The  street  advertiser,  dressed  perhaps 
as  ^* Uncle  Sam,"  is  noticed  as  to  his  tall  hat,  his  striped 
trousers,  his  ribbon-tailed  coat,  and  then  to  the  thing  he  is 


222  ELEMENTAPY   PEDAGOGY 

advertising.  The  attention  of  a  class  is  called  to  a  picture 
which  is  first  seen  as  a  whole.  Then  the  various  features 
of  the  picture  may  be  brought  out  by  analysis.  Or  a  sen- 
tence is  placed  on  the  blackboard,  read  by  the  class,  then 
its  subject,  predicate,  modifiers,  etc.,  pointed  out.  Thus 
it  will  be  found  that  the  second  step  in  the  process  of  atten- 
tion is  analysis,  and  but  little  material  will  be  fixed  in  the 
mind  if  this  step  is  not  taken. 

3.  Abstraction.  — It  has  been  shown  elsewhere  (p.  43) 
that  an  ultimate  aim  in  the  process  of  instruction  is  to  bring 
the  child  to  a  conception  of  the  abstract  notion;  that  to 
stop  short  of  this  aim  is  to  fail  to  establish  the  relations  of 
knowledge;  that  this  end  is  essential  in  order  to  fix  the  mate- 
rial in  the  mind  so  that  it  may  be  used  unconsciously, 
habitually,  masterfully;  and  that  this  power  distinguishes 
man  from  the  lower  creatures.  In  the  process  of  atten- 
tion, having  analyzed  the  object  with  its  parts,  the  next 
step  is  to  "seize  upon  one  of  the  distinctions  found  by 
analysis"  and  proceed  to  abstraction.  As  a  concrete  illus- 
tration we  may  once  more  refer  to  the  hat.  A  feature  of 
its  trimmings,  as  the  flowers,  may  be  considered  in  the 
abstract  as  to  their  color,  beauty,  faithfulness  in  represent- 
ing genuine  flowers,  etc.  The  same  may  be  true  of  any 
feature  of  the  street  advertiser,  "Uncle  Sam,"  that  may  be 
thought  of  without  any  relation  to  the  whole;  also 
the  object  of  the  fantastic  costume,  which  is  to  get 
the  attention  fixed  upon  the  thing  advertised,  may  be 
thought  of  independent  of  the  advertiser.  A  word  in  the 
sentence  analyzed  may  be  thought  of  as  a  noun,  a  verb,  an 
adjective.  A  class  may  have  analyzed  the  celebrated  paint- 
ing, "Washington   Crossing  the   Delaware."     Washington 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT  223 

can  be  thought  of  as  a  great  historic  character  without 
regard  to  the  picture;  the  other  occupants  of  the  boats,  the 
blocks  of  ice,  the  peril,  each  of  these  can  be  considered  in 
the  abstract.  A  whole  train  of  events  —  the  battle  of  Tren- 
ton immediately  following,  its  effect  upon  the  cause  of  the 
patriots,  Washington's  subsequent  career,  the  establish- 
ment and  growth  of  the  nation,  its  effect  upon  the  world's 
history,  all  these  ideas  naturally  flow  out  of  the  incident 
portrayed  by  the  artist.  Thus  the  attention  awakened  by  the 
picture  comes  to  have  a  breadth  and  meaning  far  beyond 
anything  that  the  picture  itself  contains. 

4.  Finding  relations.  —  The  final  act  of  attention  con- 
sists in  a  synopsis,  a  summary  of  the  whole,  an  establish- 
ment of  the  relations  that  exist  between  the  parts.  Dr. 
Harris  speaks  of  this  point  as  a  ^*  process  of  synthetic 
thought,  a  grasping  together,  a  comprehension  —  a  higher 
activity  of  the  mind  —  a  fourth  potence  of  the  power  of 
attention."  We  may  illustrate  this  process  by  once  more 
employing  the  examples  already  cited  and  proceeding  a 
step  further.  In  the  picture  ^^  Washington  Crossing  the 
Delaware,"  a  whole  train  of  events  is  suggested,  as  already 
pointed  out.  By  reflection  the  attention  is  easily  led  to  a 
great  many  relations  and  circumstances  that  flow  out  of 
the  event  pictured,  such  as,  the  battle  which  immediately 
followed,  its  good  effect  upon  the  cause  of  the  patriots, 
and  the  corresponding  disastrous  effect  upon  our  enemy 
who  spoke  of  it  as  "that  unfortunate  affair  at  Trenton." 
Employing  again  the  illustration  concerning  the  choice  of 
a  hat,  its  suitability  of  style,  shape,  color,  etc.,  to  the  wants 
of  the  person  considering  it  may  be  spoken  of  as  the  em- 
ployment of  attention  to  determine  the  relations.     To  quote 


224  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

once  more  from  Dr.  Harris/  ''Reflection,  or  attention  in  its 
higher  powers,  discovers  necessary  relations,  and  forms 
more  adequate  ideas  of  truth.  Isaac  Newton  saw  the  sun 
and  planets  as  one  gravitating  whole  —  a  system  —  and 
his  knowledge  certainly  came  nearer  the  truth  than  did 
the  knowledge  of  previous  astronomers  who  merely  knew 
the  Sim  and  planets  in  their  separate  existence.  In  going 
into  the  truth  of  objects,  the  mind  goes  into  itself  at  the 
same  time.  Psychology  points  backward  to  the  great  fact 
that  reason  made  both  the  world  and  the  human  intellect." 

Practical  Suggestions  as  to  Attention.  —  It  is  useless  to 
attempt  to  teach  without  attention.  If  a  teacher  is  willing 
to  go  on  with  the  recitation  with  only  a  part  of  the  class 
attentive,  he  will  soon  find  that  all  are  inattentive  and  hence 
there  is  no  instruction  being  given.  Children  soon  learn 
whether  or  not  the  teacher  is  oblivious  to  his  surroimdings 
or  whether  he  will  not  teach  unless  all  attend  to  the  matter 
in  hand.  Nothing  is  so  fatal  to  successful  instruction  or  to 
good  order  as  want  of  attention.  It  is  useless  to  demand 
attention  without  providing  the  means  to  win  and  hold  it. 
When  this  cannot  be  done,  it  is  better  to  close  the  recita- 
tion. 

The  following  suggestions  may  be  of  use,  especially  in 
dealing  with  children. 

I.  See  to  the  material  conditions,  —  It  is  impossible  to 
hold  the  attention  of  a  class  very  long  if  the  surroundings 
are  unfavorable.  A  high  temperature  or  bad  air  in  the 
room,  the  flapping  of  window-curtains,  draughts,  direct  sun- 
shine,   uncomfortable    seats,   mischievous   neighbors,  may 

*  Rosenkranz,  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  72. 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT  22$ 

defeat  the  effort  to  gain  attention.  A  moment  spent  at 
the  outset  in  regulating  these  things  will  prove  to  be  time 
well  spent.  Indeed,  unless  these  conditions  are  favorable 
there  is  little  use  in  beginning  the  lesson. 

2.  Proper  attitude  must  be  required.  —  Children  should 
be  required  to  sit  or  stand  erect,  facing  the  teacher  and  in 
as  close  proximity  to  him  as  possible.  It  is  difficult  to  hold 
the  interest  of  a  class  located  a  long  distance  away,  espe- 
cially if  other  pupils  are  at  work  in  the  same  room.  It  may 
be  said  that  the  effectiveness  of  the  instruction  varies  in- 
versely with  the  distance  between  the  teacher  and  the  class. 
While  it  is  useless  to  demand  attention,  it  is  not  useless  to 
require  a  proDer  attitude  in  class. 

3.  Awaken  the  interest.  —  Having  attended  to  these  pre- 
liminary matters,  the  teacher  may  proceed  with  the  instruc- 
tion. The  first  thing  necessary  to  gain  attention  is  interest. 
** Interest,"  says  Dr.  Johnson,  ''is  the  mother  of  attention; 
attention  is  the  mother  of  memory ;  to  get  memory,  get  her 
mother  and  her  grandmother."  If,  then,  the  pupil  is  to 
remember  the  truths  taught,  his  attention  must  be  gained 
through  awakening  his  interest.  With  young  children  this 
is  done  chiefly  by  means  of  concrete  illustration.  The  child 
is  interested  in  what  appeals  to  his  senses.  Nor  does  the 
use  of  illustration  as  a  means  of  stimulating  interest  cease 
with  children,  as  we  have  seen  elsewhere.  The  preacher 
employs  it  to  enliven  his  sermon  and  to  enforce  the  truths 
he  would  teach;  the  lawyer  uses  it  in  his  pleas  in  court; 
the  medical  professor  and  the  surgeon  utilize  it  in  the  clinic 
before  their  students;  the  orator  makes  use  of  it  in  appeal- 
ing to  voters;    and  the  lecturer  clarifies  his  theme  through 


226  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

this  means.  With  young  children  it  is  absolutely  essential, 
while  with  adults  it  may  be  employed  to  arouse  the  flagging 
interest.  So  long  as  interest  is  maintained  attention  can 
be  held  and  no  longer. 

4.  Use  judgment  as  to  the  length  of  the  recitation.  — 
There  is  a  limit  to  the  length  of  time  that  attention  can  be 
held,  depending  upon  the  maturity  of  the  pupils,  the  char- 
acter of  the  subject,  the  method  employed,  the  time  of  the 
day,  and  the  personality  of  the  teacher.  In  general,  the 
attention  of  young  children  can  be  held  only  for  a  brief 
period.  In  most  subjects,  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  in  the 
primary  grades  is  as  long  a  period  as  the  children  can  be 
held  in  profitable  recitation,  as  their  interest  is  sure  to  flag. 
Subjects  that  admit  of  illustration  or  experimentation  may 
be  treated  for  a  longer  period.  Laboratory  work  in  phy- 
sics, chemistry,  biology,  etc.,  may  be  successfully  continued 
for  an  hour,  and  even  for  a  number  of  hours,  especially 
where  the  pupils  are  engaged  in  individual  work  in  which 
they  may  move  freely  about,  selecting  material,  arrang- 
ing apparatus,  and  experimenting.  The  same  is  true  of 
manual  training.  Other  subjects  of  the  curriculum  also 
offer  in  themselves  incentive  to  extended  attention,  and  this 
is  true  of  various  phases  of  the  same  subject.  For  ex- 
ample, it  would  be  more  difficult  to  hold  the  attention  of  a 
class  in  English  grammar  than  in  the  thrilling  events  of  his- 
tory; and  stories  of  the  personal  life  of  Washington  or  Ben- 
edict Arnold  would  be  phases  of  history  that  would  appeal 
to  the  interest  more  than  an  account  of  the  formation  of  the 
American  constitution. 

The  method  of  instruction  is  a  very  important  factor  in 
holding  the  attention.     The  lecture  method  wearies  rapidly 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT  22/ 

—  even  adults  do  not  like  a  sermon  to  be  over  thirty  or  forty 
minutes  long,  and  it  takes  a  good  lecturer  with  a  most 
interesting  theme  to  hold  an  audience  for  a  very  long  time. 
Children  must  be  allowed  to  take  part  in  the  exercise  by 
asking  and  answering  questions,  while  the  method  employed 
in  high  schools  and  colleges  that  secures  the  best  results  is 
a  combination  of  lecture  and  recitation.  Although  a 
knowledge  of  the  subject  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  is  most 
essential,  the  method  of  presenting  it  must  not  be  lost  sight 
of  if  interest  is  to  be  maintained  and  attention  held.^ 

It  is  evident  that  keener  interest  can  be  secured  early  in 
the  day,  when  the  pupils  are  fresh  and  strong,  than  later 
the  day  when  the  body  is  weary  and  when  the  mind  has 
already  grasped  about  all  that  it  is  capable  of  taking. 
Therefore  the  schedule  should  be  so  arranged  as  to  place 
subjects  requiring  close  attention  at  the  beginning  of  the 
day  and  those  requiring  less  concentration  at  later  periods.^ 

Finally,  the  personality  of  the  teacher  is  an  important 
factor  in  winning  attention.  The  teacher  who  is  enthusi- 
astic, alert,  pleasing,  fertile  in  expedient,  himself  interested, 
will  certainly  keep  the  attention  longer  than  one  who  lacks 
these  qualities.  All  of  these  factors  —  the  age  of  the  pupils, 
the  subject,  the  method,  the  period  of  the  day,  and  the  per- 
sonality of  the  teacher  should  be  taken  into  account  in  de- 
termining the  length  of  time  the  attention  may  be  held  and 
therefore  the  length  of  the  recitation  period. 

5.  Never  attempt  to  teach  without  attention,  —  What- 
ever the  condition,  or  the  cause,  whatever  the  age  of  the 

>  See  Chapter  VIII  on  "Methods of  Instruction." 

*  See  "Foundations  of  Education,"  Chapter  V  on  "The  Daily  Pro- 
gram." 


228  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

pupils,  when  they  cease  to  give  attention,  it  is  time  to  make  a 
change,  perhaps  to  close  the  recitation.  It  is  utter  waste  of 
time  and  effort,  and  nothing  whatever  can  be  accomplished. 
Every  teacher  should  understand  this  and  never  attempt  to 
teach  without  the  interested  attention  of  every  member  of 
the  class.  A  careful  adherence  to  these  suggestions  will 
soon  secure  the  attention  that  is  expected,  and  there  will  be 
a  gradual  increase  of  the  power  on  the  part  of  the  pupils  to 
give  attention  to  any  subject  at  will.  The  possession  of 
this  power  is  the  best  possible  evidence  of  a  trained  mind, 
of  an  education.  "The  great  skill  of  the  teacher  is  to  get 
and  keep  the  attention  of  his  scholars,''  says  Locke. 

"Attention,  depending  as  it  does  on  the  self-determina- 
tion of  the  observer,  can  therefore  be  improved,  and  the 
pupils  made  attentive,  by  the  educator.  Education  must 
accustom  him  to  exact,  rapid,  and  many-sided  attention, 
so  that  at  the  first  contact  with  an  object  he  may  grasp  it 
sufficiently  and  truly,  and  that  it  shall  not  be  necessary  for 
him  always  to  be  changing  his  impressions  concerning  it. 
The  twilight  and  partialness  of  intelligence  which  force  a 
pupil  always  to  new  corrections  because  he  has  all  along 
failed  to  give  entire  attention  must  not  be  tolerated."  ^ 

Industry.  —  The  child  is  naturally  active,  and  total  inert- 
ness may  be  taken  as  a  sign  of  mental  or  physical  weakness. 
"There  never  was  such  a  thing  as  a  lazy  child  born  on 
earth,"  asserts  Colonel  Parker.  From  morning  till  night  the 
little  child  is  busy,  ceasing  only  when  weariness  compels 
sleep.  Such  activity  is  nature's  method  of  introducing  the 
child  to  his  environment,  of  securing  his  development,  of 

*  Rosenkranz,  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  ii6. 


INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT  229 

enabling  him  to  gain  command  of  himself.  One  of  the 
most  important  functions  of  education  is  so  to  utilize  this 
natural  activity  that  the  individual  shall  become  purpose- 
ful, systematic,  self- directive,  and  constant.  Laziness  may 
be  considered  as  relative  rather  than  absolute.  While  it  is 
true  that  the  normal  child  is  active,  it  is  also  true  that  all 
men  will  escape,  if  possible,  uncongenial  tasks,  that  is,  they 
are  lazy  with  reference  to  them.  In  the  spring  of  1894,  the 
contractors  of  the  Chicago  drainage  canal  offered  employ- 
ment at  small  pay  to  the  great  crowd  of  men  left  stranded 
after  the  hard  winter  succeeding  the  World's  Fair.  Thou- 
sands of  men  responded  to  the  call  and  offered  themselves 
for  work,  bravely  taking  up  pick  and  shovel  to  earn  daily 
bread  for  themselves  and  families.  Before  noon  large 
numbers  abandoned  the  job,  and  by  night  only  a  few  were 
left.  The  unthinking  declared  that  the  men  were  too  lazy 
to  work.  The  fact  that  they  walked  miles  to  secure  work, 
that  they  entered  upon  it  and  did  the  best  they  could,  dis- 
proved the  charge  of  laziness.  They  were  clerks,  book- 
keepers, and  other  men  unaccustomed  to  manual  labor 
and  were,  therefore,  in  their  half- famished  condition,  unable 
to  stand  the  heavy  work.  Many  of  them  returned  the  next 
day  and  persevered  until  they  were  able  to  endure  the 
labor,  thus  giving  evidence  of  their  industry. 

The  mathematical  expert  would  soon  lay  down  the  spade 
on  a  hot  August  day,  while  he  might  spend  half  the  night 
in  the  solution  of  some  abstruse  problem.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  man  accustomed  to  manual  labor  would  work  all 
day  in  the  ditch  but  would  fall  asleep  in  a  few  moments 
over  a  theorem  in  Euclid.  Each  might  be  said  to  be  lazy 
in  one  field  and  industrious  enough  in  another,  thus  prov- 
ing that  laziness  is  relative. 


230  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

The  teacher  will  need  to  employ  tact  in  utilizing  the 
interests  of  the  child  —  those  things  in  which  he  is  active 
enough,  in  order  to  lead  him  to  be  industrious  in  fields 
where  he  has  less  interest,  but  where  it  is  his  duty  to  go. 
For  the  child  must  not  be  excused  from  performing  tasks 
that  are  uncongenial  to  him.  In  the  words  of  Locke, 
''The  foundation  of  all  virtue  consists  in  following  the 
dictates  of  reason  even  though  appetite  lead  the  other  way." 

Many  of  the  world's  greatest  geniuses  have  been  called 
lazy.  The  father  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  wrote  on  one  of 
his  son's  drawings,  ''Done  by  Joshua  out  of  pure  idleness." 
James  Watt  was  scolded  by  his  grandmother  because  he 
was  too  lazy  to  do  anything  but  watch  the  steam  of  the 
tea-kettle! 

Again,  the  child  must  be  trained  to  systematic  industry. 
Rosenkranz  says,^  "Education  must  accustom  him  (the 
pupil)  to  use  a  regular  diligence.  The  frame  of  mind  suit- 
able for  work  often  does  not  exist  at  the  time  when  work 
should  begin,  but  more  frequently  it  makes  its  appearance 
after  we  have  begun.  The  subject  takes  its  own  time  to 
awaken  us.  Industry,  inspired  by  a  love  and  regard  for 
work,  has  in  its  quiet  uniformity  a  great  force,  without 
which  no  one  can  accomplish  anything  essential.  The 
world,  therefore,  holds  industry  worthy  of  honor."  Every- 
one knows  what  it  means  to  set  himself  at  work,  and  it  will 
often  be  found  that  the  disagreeableness  of  uncongenial 
tasks  soon  disappears.  Very  often  dreaded  tasks  become 
a  delight  when  one  has  fully  entered  upon  them,  when  their 
mastery  is  being  accomplished,  and  when  their  value  comes 
to  be  appreciated.^ 

*  "Philosophy  of  Education,'' p.  117. 

'  See  my  "New  School  Management,"  p.  102. 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  23 1 

An  important  difference  between  a  barbarian  and  a  civil- 
ized man  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  former  is  content 
to  be  idle,  while  the  latter  is  most  happy  when  employed 
either  at  work  or  in  some  form  of  recreation.  Elsewhere 
it  has  been  shown  that  the  ability  to  direct  one's  activities 
serves  as  a  moral  safeguard,  as  well  as  conduces  to 
success  in  life.  (See  p.  166.)  Hence  industry,  which 
is  so  essential  to  moral  and  intellectual  growth,  is  an  evi- 
dence of  advancement  in  civilization  and  of  well-developed 
educational  habit.  It  thus  becomes  most  important  that 
the  teacher  shall  insist  upon  industry  in  his  pupils,  and 
wisely  direct  it  so  as  to  form  systematic  and  permanent 
habits. 

Summary 

/.  The  child^s  self-activity  must  be  stimulated  and  di- 
rectedy  without  which  he  cannot  be  educated.  Left  to  him- 
self such  activity  would  be  misdirected  and  little  progress 
would  be  made.  Hence  the  necessity  of  a  teacher,  who 
unfolds  to  the  child  the  results  of  the  world's  intellectual 
achievement.  The  teacher^s  knowledge,  skill,  and  enthu- 
siasm are  devoted  to  the  end  that  the  child  may  reap  the 
results  of  all  past  civilization  and  proceed  to  new  fields  of 
conquest  and  higher  planes  of  thought.  By  this  means  he 
starts  "  on  the  shoulders  "  of  the  world's  attainment. 

II.  Without  attention  all  efforts  to  instruct  are  fruitless. 
The  first  essential  to  attention  is  interest,  and  ability  to  give 
attention  may  be  taken  as  a  measure  of  intellectual  power. 
The  steps  marking  the  different  degrees  of  attention  are  iso- 
lation, analysis,  abstraction,  and  finding  the  relations.     As 


232  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

practical  suggestions  in  regard  to  gaining  and  holding  the 
attention  may  be  mentioned,  —  (i)  see  that  the  physical  con- 
ditions of  the  room  are  normal;  (2)  require  a  proper  attitude 
of  the  class;  (3)  awaken  their  interest;  (4)  cease  when  the 
pupils  become  weary;  (5 )  never  attempt  to  teach  without  it. 

III.  The  child  is  naturally  industrious,  laziness  being 
relative,  —  it  is  an  evidence  of  physical  or  mental  defect,  or 
of  lack  of  interest  in  the  matter  in  hand.  While  the  child 
must  be  trained  to  perform  tasks,  even  though  they  may  not 
always  be  agreeable,  the  skill  of  the  teacher  should  be  em- 
ployed to  utilize  his  natural  interests,  to  win  his  love  for 
tasks,  and  to  bring  him  to  the  performance  of  duty.  The 
child  that  has  been  trained  properly  and  systematically  to 
employ  his  activities  has  the  key  to  the  mastery  of  the  world 
and  is  possessed  of  a  moral  safeguard. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THREE  STAGES  OF  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT 

References.  —  Smith,  Systematic  Methodology;  Eckoffj  A.  B.  C. 
of  Sense-Perception;  Burton,  The  Observing  Faculties;  Morgan, 
Studies  in  Pedagogy;  Rosmini,  Method  in  Education;  Hughes, 
Dickens  as  an  Educator;  Adler,  The  Moral  Instruction  of  Children; 
Rowland,  Practical  Hints  to  Teachers;  Parker,  Talks  on  Pedagogics; 
McMurry,  Method  of  the  Recitation;  Dodd,  Introduction  to  Her- 
bartian  Principles  of  Teaching;  Schaeffer,  Thinking  and  Learning 
to  Think;  Hopkins,  How  Shall  my  Child  be  Taught?  Hall,  Ado- 
lescence. 

I.  SENSE-PERCEPTION.  —  The  normal  child  at  birth 
possesses  five  senses,  seeing,  hearing,  taste,  smell,  and  touch, 
which  are  the  avenues  through  which  he  is  to  obtain  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  world.  The  brain  is  reached  only  through  the 
senses,  and  there  can  be  no  education  in  any  particular  di- 
rection if  the  sense  whereby  that  knowledge  is  gained  is 
wanting.  Thus  the  blind  person  can  have  no  conception 
of  color,  the  deaf  person  of  the  melody  of  music,  and  to  the 
individual  destitute  of  smell,  savory  odors  and  sweet  per- 
fumes can  bring  no  delight.  Especially  is  this  true  if 
the  defect  dates  from  birth. 

Rosenkranz  defines  sense-perception  as  ^'the  free  grasp- 
ing of  an  object  immediately  present  to  the  mind.'*  ^  He 
further  asserts  that  *^  Education  can  do  nothing  directly  to- 
wards the  performance  of  this  act ;  it  can  only  assist  in  mak- 
ing it  easy  :  (i)  it  can  isolate  the  object  of  consideration; 

*  "Philosophy  of  Education,''  p.  76. 
233 


234  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

(2)  it  can  give  facility  in  the  transition  to  another;  (3)  it 
can  promote  the  many-sidedness  of  the  interest,  by  which 
means  the  return  to  a  perception  already  obtained  has  al- 
ways a  fresh  charm."  Each  sense  is  not  only  capable  of 
the  general  development  necessary  in  ordinary  life;  but  it 
also  may  receive  special  development,  as  we  have  seen 
(p.  60).  The  following  suggestions  for  the  cultivation  of 
the  perceptions  may  be  found  helpful. 

1.  Perception  is  dependent  upon  the  number  of  sensations 
received,  —  I  meet  the  same  person  many  times  and  gradu- 
ally a  perception  of  him  becomes  fixed.  An  object  is  held 
before  a  class  day  after  day  and  in  time  it  fixes  itself  upon 
their  minds  even  if  it  is  not  particularly  studied  or  described. 
I  hear  a  voice  repeatedly  until  the  sound  of  it  becomes 
familiar  and  I  recognize  it  ever  afterward.  The  blind  man 
touches  the  minute  points  representing  the  alphabet  and 
after  repeated  trials  he  knows  these  characters  instantly, 
and  is  on  the  road  to  reading.  A  perception  of  the  charac- 
ters is  gained,  then  the  words  are  formed  into  sentences, 
and  the  avenue  to  the  recorded  thoughts  of  other  men  is 
open. 

2.  Perception  depends  upon  the  order  in  which  the  sen- 
sations are  received.  —  If  I  meet  the  same  man  at  about  the 
same  time  and  place,  and  under  like  circumstances,  the  per- 
ception of  him  will  be  more  readily  and  more  permanently 
fixed  than  if  I  meet  him  irregularly.  The  presentation  of  a 
subject  to  a  class  in  a  systematic  manner,  not  only  repeating 
it  many  times,  but  also  in  the  same  way,  has  a  tendency  to 
fix  the  perception  of  the  subject.  Recitations  occurring  at 
the  same  hour  of  the  day,  with  regularity  and  system  are 


THREE   STAGES   OF    INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  235 

more  likely  to  secure  good  results  than  if  they  are  held  at 
irregular  times  and  without  order. 

3.  Perception  depends  upon  the  vividness  of  the  sensa- 
tions. —  A  startling  event  as  a  cry  of  fire,  a  call  for  help, 
a  unique  or  fantastic  dress,  a  peculiarity  of  some  kind, 
makes  a  vivid  impression  upon  the  perceptions.  A  great 
disaster  even  though  witnessed  but  once,  will  be  remembered 
as  long  as  life  lasts  because  of  the  vividness  of  the  impres- 
sion made.  We  have  seen  elsewhere  how  this  fact  is  em- 
ployed in  advertising  schemes  to  attract  attention.  (See  p. 
220.)  Carl  Schurz  in  his  "Reminiscences  of  a  Long  Life," 
tells  of  seeing  a  man  executed  by  the  guillotine  in  a  public 
square  in  Cologne  when  he  was  a  boy  ten  years  old,  over 
sixty  years  ago.  He  narrates  the  details  with  remarkable 
explicitness  and  adds,  "I  remember  walking  home  shudder- 
ing and  trembling,  and  finding  it  impossible  to  eat  my 
breakfast.  Nothing  could  have  induced  me  to  witness  an- 
other execution.'' 

4.  Perception  depends  upon  the  associations  connected  with 
it.  —  In  ascending  Vesuvius  I  meet  a  fellow-countryman 
among  a  party.  The  fact  of  my  being  in  a  foreign  land,  of 
climbing  a  volcano,  and  of  there  being  only  two  Americans 
in  the  party  leads  me  to  gain  an  unusual  perception  of  my 
compatriot,  such  as  I  would  be  unlikely  to  gain  of  any 
other  member  of  the  group.  A  classmate  in  the  laboratory 
failed  to  take  the  precaution  to  cut  a  piece  of  phosphorus 
under  water  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  heat  of  his  fingers 
ignited  the  phosphorus  and  he  was  severely  burned.  This 
made  an  impression  upon  his  fellow  students  as  to  a  charac- 
teristic  of  phosphorus  that   was  never  forgotten.     There 


236  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

are  incidents  in  the  experience  of  every  teacher  which  make 
a  strong  impression  upon  the  class. 

5.  Perception  depends  upon  the  attention  given  to  minute 
details  of  the  thing  considered.  —  An  object  said  to  be  a 
mermaid  was  brought  before  a  scientific  society  and,  after 
looking  it  over,  an  old  teacher  said,  ''  This  is  certainly  a  gen- 
uine mermaid,  the  first  I  ever  saw."  A  young  professor 
present  after  examining  the  object  carefully,  showed  it  to 
be  a  most  clumsy  hoax.  The  latter  was  accustomed  to 
minute  and  careful  study  of  details  and  was  therefore  able 
to  discern  the  truth.  The  more  careful  consideration, 
the  more  exact  study  an  object  commands,  the  more  com- 
plete and  correct  will  be  the  perceptions  gained.  For  this 
reason  it  becomes  a  most  essential  educational  process  to 
train  the  senses  to  careful  and  painstaking  observation. 

To  recapitulate,  then,  the  senses  are  trained  and  the 
perceptions  perfected  by  repetition  of  the  act  or  experience, 
by  following  systematic  order,  by  making  the  perceptions 
vivid,  by  taking  into  account  the  associations  connected 
with  their  reception,  and  by  a  minute  consideration  of  the 
details.  The  importance  of  these  processes  will  be  under- 
stood and  emphasized  if  we  remember  that  it  is  only  through 
the  senses  that  the  brain  is  reached,  and  that  as  we  develop 
the  senses  we  also  develop  the  brain. 

Object  Teaching.  —  The  first  work  of  the  school  is 
directly  connected  with  sense-training.  Hence  the  use  of 
objects  or  the  concrete  in  primary  work,  and  this  is  the 
principal  means  to  be  employed.  This  continues  during 
the  first  two  or  three  years  of  the  child's  school  life,  but 
gradually  the  use  of  the  concrete  will  be  lessened  and  the 


THREE  STAGES   OF   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT    2^^ 

work  become  more  abstract.  Education  seeks  to  give 
the  pupil  general  notions,  abstract  ideas.  The  process 
is  from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract.  A  few  cautions,  how- 
ever, should  be  observed. 

1.  Too  many  objects  should  not  be  employed.  (See  p. 
104.)  Every  particle  of  attention  which  objects  attract 
to  themselves  is  just  so  much  attention  drawn  away  from 
the  lesson  to  be  taught  and  for  which  purpose  the  objects 
are  employed.  Thus,  for  example,  in  teaching  number, 
the  approach  must  be  made  concretely,  but  some  simple 
objects  like  blocks  of  uniform  size  and  color  should  be 
chosen.  They  will  serve  to  bring  the  knowledge  to  the 
mind  through  the  sense  of  sight  or  touch  without  the  dis- 
tractions of  color,  taste,  or  desire  for  possession  to  inter- 
fere. After  the  abstract  notion  has  been  gained,  the  appli- 
cation may  be  made  to  other  objects,  but  the  instruction 
must  not  cease  until  the  abstract  notion  has  been  gained. 

2.  The  use  of  the  concrete  should  be  abandoned  when 
it  is  no  longer  necessary.  Illustration  may  be  employed, 
even  with  mature  minds  in  some  cases.  Whatever  the  stage 
of  development,  it  may  be  safely  urged  that  when  the  con- 
crete is  no  longer  necessary,  when  the  abstract  truth  is 
reached  directly  without  its  aid,  it  should  be  abandoned. 
The  abstract  notion  is  the  end  sought. 

3.  There  should  be  a  definite  aim  in  the  employment 
of  the  concrete.  There  are  two  reasons  for  the  use  of 
objects:  first,  they  are  employed  in  teaching  lessons  con- 
cerning the  objects  themselves;  second,  they  are  employed 
as  a  medium  of  knowledge  concerning  something  else.  To 
illustrate   the  first  point,  if  a  class  were  studying  botany 


238  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

the  most  direct  means  would  be  to  take  them  to  the  plant, 
or  to  place  it  before  them  for  examination.  The  object  is  ex- 
hibited in  order  that  it  may  be  studied.  The  lessons  learned 
are  direct  and  immediate.  To  illustrate  the  second  case,  we 
employ  blocks,  not  for  their  own  sake,  but  as  a  means  of 
teaching  the  number.  The  blocks  have  no  interest,  in 
themselves,  but  are  merely  a  means  whereby  interest  in 
other  knowledge  is  awakened.  Therefore  they  should  pos- 
sess no  characteristics  that  would  attract  interest  to  them- 
selves. With  a  definite  aim  in  view,  the  teacher  will  select 
such  illustrative  material  as  will  best  meet  that  aim  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  else. 

Use  of  Pictures.  —  In  the  absence  of  the  object  itself, 
recourse  is  often  had  to  pictures  as  a  means  of  direct  illus- 
tration. In  many  respects  the  picture  is  preferable  to  the 
object  itself.  Many  large  animals  cannot  be  brought  into 
the  schoolroom.  Rosenkranz  shows  that  pictures  have 
certain  decided  advantages.^  *^  Pictures  are  extremely  valu- 
able aids  to  instruction  when  they  are  correct  and  char- 
acteristic. Correctness  must  be  demanded  in  these  substi- 
tutes for  natural  objects,  historical  persons,  and  scenes. 
Without  this  correctness,  the  picture,  if  not  an  impediment, 
is,  to  say  the  least,  useless." 

Pictures  must  be  accurate,  clear,  typical,  and  true  to  the 
object  they  seek  to  represent.  In  some  respects  they  are 
better  than  the  object  itself.  As  has  been  said,  many 
animals  cannot  be  brought  into  the  schoolroom.  Indeed 
there  are  very  few  animals  that  can  be  profitably  studied 
in  the  school.     The  difficulty  of  securing  a  suitable  animal, 

*  "Philosophy  of  Education, '*  p.  78. 


THREE   STAGES    OF    INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT    239 

its  restlessness  when  brought,  the  excitement  of  the  chil- 
dren all  tend  to  disturb  the  school  and  prevent  any  genuine 
study  of  its  characteristics.  Nor  does  a  visit  to  the  menag- 
erie —  seldom  convenient  to  the  school  —  avail  as  a  means 
of  study.  Animals  thus  seen  serve  as  a  curiosity  and 
nothing  more.  The  picture,  on  the  other  hand,  may  show 
the  animal  in  its  natural  environment  —  the  tiger  in  the 
jungle,  the  bird  in  its  nest  or  upon  a  tree,  the  squirrel  in 
the  forest,  or  the  beaver  in  the  river.  Thus  the  picture 
becomes  a  natural  means  of  showing  the  life  and  habits  of 
the  creature  as  well  as  illustrating  the  type  of  the  animal 
itself. 

The  employment  of  illustrated  text-books,  beginning  with 
the  *'  Orbis  Pictus"  of  Comenius  in  1658,  has  been  a  most 
valuable  educative  means  for  training  the  eye,  cultivating 
the  taste,  and  conveying  knowledge.  Publishers  are  fully 
alive  to  this  requirement,  and  illustrated  text-books  have 
materially  furthered  educational  progress.  Not  only  is 
animal  life  made  familiar,  but  also  an  acquaintance  is  made 
possible  with  historical  scenes,  important  personages,  geogra- 
phical places,  works  of  art,  and  other  things  that  cannot  be 
brought  into  the  schoolroom.  The  illustrated  book  thus 
becomes  a  most  valuable  adjunct  to  instruction,  both  in  the 
home  and  in  the  school. 

Making  Collections.  —  Most  children  delight  in  mak- 
ing collections,  and  this  fact  may  be  employed  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  senses,  especially  the  eye.  Collections 
of  plants,  coins,  postage-stamps,  insects,  etc.,  can  be  made 
of  great  value  to  the  child,  provided  he  is  guided  in  making 
such  a  collection,  encouraged  to  make  it  complete,  arrang- 


240  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

ing,  classifying,  studying,  and  accurately  observing  it.  Mere 
collections  without  systematic  classification,  have  little 
value  either  educationally  or  commercially.  Not  long  ago, 
an  examination  of  the  botanical  collection  of  a  gentleman 
recently  deceased  was  made  with  view  to  purchasing  it  for 
a  state  museum.  It  was  the  most  extensive  collection  ever 
made  in  that  state,  many  years  and  large  expense  having 
been  devoted  to  it.  The  specimens  were  mounted  on 
scraps  of  newspaper,  bits  of  wrapping  paper,  and  writing 
paper  without  regulation  or  plan.  Had  the  specimens 
been  properly  mounted,  the  collection  would  have  been 
worth  not  less  than  twenty  thousand  dollars.  As  it  was,  no 
purchaser  could  be  found  for  it. 

Not  only  the  eye  and  the  aesthetic  nature,  but  also  the 
practical  and  the  utilitarian  sense  of  the  child  may  be  cul- 
tivated by  pictures  and  by  collections.  Besides  this,  a  de- 
cided moral  value  may  be  attached  to  this  kind  of 
training.  Order,  system,  perseverance,  faithfulness,  neat- 
ness, and  other  virtues  may  be  inculcated.  A  practical  use 
may  be  made  of  some  of  these  collections  in  the  work  of  in- 
struction. It  will  not  be  difficult  to  interest  the  child  in  the 
geography,  history,  government,  customs,  and  peoples  of  a 
country  from  which  he  possesses  stamps  or  coins;  or  in  the 
habits  of  insects,  or  the  uses  of  plants  collected.  It  must 
be  emphasized  that  the  value  to  the  child  does  not  lie  with 
the  mere  collecting,  but  rather  with  the  use  made  of  the 
objects  after  they  are  collected. 

Another  most  valuable  means  of  training  the  eye  is  draw- 
ing. Through  it  the  child  learns  to  judge  distances,  to  es- 
timate size,  to  distinguish  color,  as  well  as  to  gain  control 
of  the  hand  so  as  to  enable  it  to  obey  the  direction  of  the 


THREE   STAGES   OF   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT    241 

will.  Nothing  else  in  the  school  course  is  so  valuable  as  a 
means  of  furnishing  this  training,  indeed,  through  no  other 
means  can  these  ends  be  attained. 

Training  the  Ear.  —  Attention  thus  far  has  been  directed 
chiefly  to  the  means  employed  in  training  the  eye.  The 
other  sense  that  is  susceptible  of  training  in  the  school  is 
that  of  hearing.  The  ear  is  cultivated  by  music,  and  if 
music  had  no  other  office  than  this,  it  would  be  worthy  of  a 
place  in  the  curriculum.  Much  of  the  enjoyment  of  Hfe  is 
lost  to  one  who  cannot  appreciate  harmony  of  sound.  An 
appreciation  of  harmony  is  apt  to  affect  the  tone  of  voice 
so  that  speech  and  reading  are  improved  by  music.  A 
pleasant  tone  of  voice  can  be  cultivated  also  by  securing 
a  proper  pitch  in  reading.  The  best  means  of  doing  this 
is  found  to  be  the  training  of  the  ear  to  distinguish  differ- 
ences in  pitch.  Hence,  the  training  of  the  ear  should  re- 
ceive especial  attention,  and  every  course  of  study  must 
include  such  studies  as  will  develop  the  various  senses. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  course  for  the  first  few  years 
when  most  knowledge  is  obtained  through  the  senses  and 
when  sense-perception  is  the  dominant  power  of  intellectual 
development. 

II.  IMAGINATION.— The  next  period  in  the  mental  devel- 
opment of  the  child  is  that  of  imagination,  which  may  be 
defined  as  the  power  of  calling  up  images  or  experiences  of 
perceptions  already  gained  through  the  senses,  and  com- 
bining them  into  new  images.  Rosenkranz  says,  "The  ac- 
tivity of  perception  results  in  the  formation  of  an  internal 
picture  or  image  which  intelligence  can  call  up  any  time  at 


242  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

pleasure,  and  imagine  it  as  occupying  an  ideal  space,  al- 
though the  object  is  absent,  in  fact,  and  thus  the  image  or 
picture  becomes  a  sort  of  general  scheme  (or  pattern  ap- 
plicable to  a  class  of  objects),  and  hence  an  image-concept. 
The  mental  image  may  (i)  be  compared  with  the  percep- 
tion from  which  it  sprang,  or  (2)  it  may  be  arbitrarily  altered 
and  combined  with  other  images,  or  (3 )  it  may  be  held  fast 
in  the  form  of  abstract  signs  or  symbols  which  intelligence 
invents  for  it.  Thus  originate  the  functions  (i)  of  the 
verifications  of  conceptions,  of  (2)  creative  imagination,  and 
(3)  of  memory." 

Creative  Imagination.  —  The  progress  of  civilization  is 
dependent  upon  the  power  of  creative  imagination.  Smith 
remarks,*  "In  all  acts  of  original  illustration  either  of  philo- 
sophical, scientific,  or  practical  truth;  in  all  mechanical  in- 
ventions, original  compositions,  or  decorations;  in  the  per- 
formance of  intelligent  manual  labor,  or  the  production  of 
an  ideal  human  character  —  in  a  word,  in  all  mental  ad- 
vancement held  within  the  bounds  of  individual  notions 
and  not  directly  supplied  by  the  senses,  the  imagination  is 
involved  as  the  dominant  faculty." 

The  value  of  the  "  Sistine  Madonna"  is  not  found  in  the 
canvas,  the  material  used  in  the  exquisite  colorings,  or  in 
the  time  devoted  to  sketching  and  painting  it.  But  it  lies 
in  the  originating,  creative  genius  of  a  Raphael  who  could 
conceive  and  bring  to  realization  such  a  masterpiece.  Leo- 
nardo's "Last  Supper,"  painted  upon  the  walls  of  the 
Maria  delle  Grazie  chapel  in  Milan,  scarred  by  the  ravages 
of  time  and  neglect,  is  not  so  beautiful  as  a  dozen  copies 

*  "Systematic  Methodology,"  p.  39. 


THREE   STAGES   OF   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  243 

standing  upon  easels  in  front  of  it,  where  modern  artists  are 
reproducing  the  original;  but  it  is  of  infinite  more  value  be- 
cause it  is  an  original  creation,  and  therefore  it  adds  to  the 
riches  of  the  world.  A  bar  of  steel  may  have  a  value  of  a 
few  dollars,  but  if  drawn  into  fine  wire  and  constructed  into 
watch-springs  its  value  is  increased  a  millionfold.  Words 
may  be  simply  expressive  of  individual  and  heterogeneous 
ideas;  but  if  they  are  so  placed  together  as  to  convey  a  noble 
thought,  expressing  that  thought  in  an  essay  or  a  poem, 
they  become  immortal.  Ideas  gained  through  the  senses 
are  combined,  rearranged,  and  developed  through  imagina- 
tion and  the  result  is  an  essay,  a  poem,  a  painting,  an  inven- 
tion, a  new  thought,  a  creation,  a  contribution  to  the  world's 
progress. 

Citing  Smith  again,*  "Objection  is  sometimes  urged  to 
the  use  of  the  term  '  creative '  in  reference  to  the  human  im- 
agination. It  is  stated  that  the  imagination  can  create  noth- 
ing new;  it  can  at  best  only  take  old  materials  and  put  them 
into  new  relations.  All  the  elements  in  the  product  are  old, 
and  we  are  totally  incapable  of  making  anything  in  imagi- 
nation which  was  not  furnished  in  its  elements  by  the  senses. 
If  by  creation  we  meant  bringing  into  being,  then  the  criti- 
cism would  be  a  valid  one;  but  when  it  means  producing 
that  which  in  its  present  form  did  not  previously  exist,  the 
objection  to  the  word  seems  unfounded.  We  speak  of  per- 
sons making  new  houses,  new  wagons,  new  art  designs,  or 
new  clothing,  and  the  expressions  go  unchallenged;  and 
yet  most  people  have  doubtless  never  stopped  to  think  in 
what  the  element  of  newness  consists.  All  the  materials  in 
a  new  house  —  the  wood,  stone,  iron,  slate,  etc.  —  are  all 

*  "Systematic  Methodology,"  p.  42. 


244  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

old.  What  is  it,  then,  that  makes  it  a  new  house  ?  We  dis- 
tinguish between  new  clothing  and  ^made-over'  clothing, 
and  yet  all  the  materials  in  the  new  garments  may  be  as  old 
as  those  in  the  others.  What,  then,  is  the  ground  for  the 
distinction;  and  just  what  do  we  mean  by  a  new  gar- 
ment? Every  material  product  of  man's  skill  is  made  up 
of  two  things  —  material  elements  and  relations.  The 
material  elements  man  must  always  find  at  hand  ready  for 
his  use;  he  cannot  bring  any  of  them  into  being.  The 
relations,  or  arrangement  of  these  elements,  he  furnishes. 
And  these  new  relations  constitute  the  only  element  of  new- 
ness in  any  of  the  products  of  man's  skill.  A  new  house, 
then,  is  all  old,  except  the  arrangement  of  the  materials 
which  compose  it.  If  these  materials  have  never  before 
been  put  into  the  relations  required  for  the  production  of 
such  an  object  as  is  before  us,  we  call  the  object  new;  if  they 
have  been  in  such  a  relation  before,  we  call  the  object  a 
'made-over '  one.  A  new  garment  differs  from  a  made- 
over  one  only  in  this:  the  materials  of  the  *  made-over'  gar- 
ment have  been  used  in  garments  before,  while  those  of  the 
new  one  have  never  been  so  used.  Now,  in  the  products 
of  imagination  we  have  just  the  same  amount  of  newness 
that  we  have  in  material  products  —  new  relations.  All  the 
elements  (ideas)  which  serve  as  the  data  of  imagination  are 
old;  the  arrangement  alone  is  new,  and  these  new  rela- 
tions man  creates." 

Cultivating  the  Imagination.  —  Since  imagination  is  so 
important  to  the  advancement  of  the  individual  and  of  the 
race  its  training  becomes  a  vital  problem  of  pedagogy. 
How  is  the  imagination,  especially  the  creative  imagination, 


THREE  STAGES   OF   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT    245 

to  be  cultivated  ?  It  is  cultivated  chiefly  by  works  of  art  and 
literature.  The  study  of  fine  paintings  has  a  tendency  to 
create  a  love  of  the  beautiful  and  to  fill  the  mind  with  noble 
thoughts.  For  this  reason  the  Church  has  decorated  her 
chapels  and  her  cathedrals  with  the  finest  works  of  the  great- 
est masters.  Scarcely  a  masterpiece  of  the  old  artists  can 
be  found  outside  of  a  religious  edifice,  unless  it  has  been 
brought  away  from  such  a  place.  Hoffmann's  ^Xhrist  be- 
fore the  Doctors,"  Rubens'  ^'Descent  from  the  Cross," 
Raphael's  ''Sistine  Madonna,"  Millet's ''Angelus,"  whether 
found  in  a  cathedral,  an  art  gallery,  or  a  home,  can- 
not fail  to  awaken  noblest  sentiments  and  inspire  better 
thoughts  and  higher  imaginations  in  those  who  live  in  their 
presence.  On  the  other  hand,  vulgar  pictures  stimulate 
evil  thoughts  and  imaginations.  Hence,  the  walls  of 
saloons  are  decorated  with  pictures  that  incite  evil  passions. 
No  better  commentary  on  the  wickedness  of  Pompeii  when 
it  was  overwhelmed  could  be  made  than  the  testimony  of 
the  vile  mural  paintings  that  have  been  unearthed  after 
twenty  centuries  of  oblivion.  The  depraving  effect  of 
evil  pictures  upon  pubhc  morals  is  fully  recognized  by  the 
government,  which  visits  severe  punishment  upon  any  one 
offering  them  for  sale  or  circulating  them  through  the  mails. 

Illustrated  books,  copies  of  masterpieces  for  wall  deco- 
ration and  for  class  use,  free  picture  galleries,  and  the 
many  art  schools  established  at  public  expense  afford  ample 
means  for  the  cultivation  of  good  taste  in  art.  The  teacher 
can  utilize  these  means  in  training  the  imagination. 

But  the  most  important  and  available  material  is  offered 
in  the  field  of  literature.  Here,  too,  remarkable  changes 
have   taken   place   whereby   the   best   and  most   suitable 


246  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

classic  works  are  brought  within  the  reach  of  all,  both  as 
to  cost  and  as  to  suitability  for  classroom  use.  The  term 
^'Dime  Novel,"  which  used  to  be  a  term  of  reproach, 
because  only  trashy  stories  were  published  at  that  price, 
need  be  no  longer  so,  for  many  of  the  best  works  of  liter- 
ature are  now  published  for  ten  cents,  or  even  half  that 
amount.  Suitable  literature  for  all  ages  of  children  is 
provided  so  that  the  child  may  have  such  reading  as  he 
needs  to  stimulate  his  imagination  at  any  period. 

Rosenkranz  well  remarks,^  '^The  best  literature  designed 
for  the  amusement  of  children  from  their  seventh  to  their 
fourteenth  year  consists  always  of  that  which  is  honored 
by  nations  and  the  world  at  large.  One  has  only  to  notice 
in  how  many  thousand  forms  the  story  of  Ulysses  is  repro- 
duced by  the  writers  of  children's  tales.  Becker's  *  Ancient 
Stories,'  Gustav  Schwab's  most  admirable  *  Sagas  of 
Antiquity,'  Karl  Grimm's  'Tales  of  Olden  Times,'  etc., 
what  were  they  without  the  well- talking,  wily  favorite  of 
Pallas  and  the  divine  swine-herd?  And  just  so  indestructi- 
ble are  the  stories  of  the  Old  Testament  up  to  the  separation 
of  Judah  and  Israel.  These  patriarchs  with  their  wives 
and  daughters,  these  judges  and  prophets,  these  kings  and 
priests,  are  by  no  means  ideals  of  virtue  from  the  stand- 
point of  our  modern  lifeless  morality,  which  would  smooth 
out  of  it  pattern-stories  for  the  'dear  children'  everything 
that  is  hard  and  imcouth.  For  the  very  reason  that  the 
shadow-side  is  not  wanting  here,  and  that  we  find  envy, 
vanity,  evil  desire,  ingratitude,  craftiness,  and  deceit, 
among  these  fathers  of  the  race  and  leaders  of  God's 
chosen  people,  have  these  stories  so  great  an  educational 

*  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  84. 


THREE  STAGES   OF   INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT    247 

value.  Adam,  Cain,  Abraham,  Joseph,  Samson,  and 
David,  have  justly  become  as  truly  world- historical  types 
as  Achilles  and  Patroclns,  Agamemnon  and  Iphigenia, 
Hector  and  Andromache,  Ulysses  and  Penelope."  The 
Culture  Epochs  theory  outlines  suitable  literature  for 
each  year,  and  many  schools  have  adopted  courses  of 
reading  for  each  of  the  twelve  grades.  Nothing  could  be 
more  practical  and  valuable  in  the  training  of  children 
for  life. 

Myths  and  Fairy  Tales.  —  The  myth  often  gives  a  semi- 
historical  account  of  primitive  times,  and  it  possesses  a 
peculiar  fascination  for  children.  The  story  told  the  chil- 
dren should  be  free  from  everything  morbid  or  creative  of 
a  false  idea.  For  example,  stories  that  represent  step- 
mothers as  wicked,  unfeeling,  or  wanting  in  the  qualities 
of  motherhood,  even  for  children  of  another,  should  be 
wholly  eliminated.  Without  doubt,  fairy  tales  are  in  a 
large  measure  responsible  for  the  ill-favor  that  still  clings 
to  the  name  ^* step-mother,"  and  the  prejudice  that  so 
commonly  exists  against  women  who  have  accepted  this 
heavy  burden.  German  schools  and  homes  have  long 
since  banished  all  literature  that  teaches  this  false  notion, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  the  step-mother  is  most  cordially 
received,  not  only  by  the  children,  but  also  by  the  friends 
of  their  mother. 

The  fear  is  often  expressed  that  myths,  which  are  not  a 
statement  of  absolute  fact,  will  have  a  tendency  to  teach 
the  child  to  be  untruthful.  As  a  consequence,  some  would 
never  allow  the  Santa  Claus  myth  to  be  introduced  to 
the  home  at  Christmas  time.  Such  matter-of-fact  people 
remind  one  of  the  character  Mr.  Gradgrind  in  Dickens. 


248  Elementary  pedagogy 

***And  what,'  asked  Mr.  Gradgrind  in  a  still  lower  voice, 
'did  you  read  to  your  father,  Jupe?'  'About  the  Fairies, 
sir,  and  the  Dwarf,  and  the  Hunchback,  and  the  Genies,' 
she  sobbed  out. 

'''There,'  said  Mr.  Gradgrind,  'that  is  enough.  Never 
breathe  a  word  of  such  destructive  nonsense  any  more.'" 

Another  example  —  "Louisa  had  been  overheard  to 
begin  a  conversation  with  her  brother  by  saying,  'Tom, 
I  wonder  —  '  upon  which  Mr.  Gradgrind,  who  was  the 
person  overhearing,  stepped  forth  into  the  light,  and  said, 
'Louisa,  never  wonder!'" 

The  child  loves  the  mysterious  and  it  is  hard  for  him 
finally  to  accept  Santa  Claus  as  only  a  myth.  And  he  will 
neither  lose  confidence  in  any  one  nor  be  made  one  whit 
more  untruthful  when  he  discovers  that  the  cherished  char- 
acter is  only  a  myth.  Myths  and  fairy  tales  are  perfectly 
natural  material  for  children,  and  it  is  uneducational, 
if  not  cruel,  to  rob  them  of  this  beautiful  means  of  culti- 
vating the  imagination  in  their  early  life. 

Good  Taste  for  Literature.  —  It  has  been  shown  that  it  is 
no  longer  necessary  to  depend  upon  trashy  books  as  a  means 
of  supplying  literature  for  children  because  of  their  cheap- 
ness, as  standard  works  are  issued  in  cheap  editions.  It 
is  the  duty  of  the  school  to  get  possession  of  the  ground 
before  evil  seed  has  been  sown.  Weeds  flourish  in  unoccu- 
pied soil,  and  if  good  seed  has  been  first  planted  and  has 
taken  root  there  is  little  danger  of  noxious  plants  getting  a 
start.  Applying  the  analogy  to  reading,  if  plenty  of  good 
books  are  put  into  the  hands  of  children  little  is  to  be  feared 
from  the  evil  ones.     A  good  taste  can  be  established  only 


TBREE   STAGES   OF   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT    249 

by  furnishing  wholesome,  pure,  and  interesting  material 
and  leading  the  children  to  read  it  instead  of  that  which  is 
vicious.  A  great  deal  more  attention  should  be  paid  to 
children's  reading  than  is  common.  There  should  be  sys- 
tematic, constant,  watchful  effort  to  lead  the  children  into 
reading  good  works.  Little  need  be  said  of  evil  books  or 
the  curiosity  to  see  what  they  contain  will  be  stimulated. 
Leave  no  place  for  the  bad  by  occupying  all  the  territory 
at  the  outset  with  the  good. 

A  teacher  of  a  fourth  grade  class  pursued  a  very  prac- 
tical and  excellent  plan  whereby  she  led  her  pupils  to  read 
such  books  as  she  desired.  The  plan  was  this  —  each 
pupil  contributed  five  cents  to  found  a  class  library,  and 
with  this  money  forty- five  of  the  "Five-cent  Classics"* 
were  purchased.  One  of  the  pupils  was  appointed  libra- 
rian, and  the  books  were  circulated  according  to  rule,  and 
thus  each  child  would  be  entitled  to  more  than  a  book  a 
week  for  the  entire  year.  Not  only  were  the  members  of 
the  class  interested,  but  their  parents  and  older  brothers 
and  sisters  became  interested  and  were  allowed  to  join  the 
club  upon  paying  fifteen  cents,  and  the  movement  became 
a  neighborhood  blessing,  while  each  child  was  furnished 
with  all  the  reading  it  needed.  Biography,  stories  of  patriot- 
ism, history,  and  classic  works  can  thus  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  children.  No  more  important  and  fruitful  work 
can  be  undertaken  by  the  teacher.  A  love  for  the  good, 
the  true,  the  chaste,  the  noble,  the  beautiful,  can  be  incul- 
cated, the  imagination  furnished  with  plenty  of  pure  mate- 
rial, and  the  moral  life  stimulated  and  fortified. 

*  Published  by  the  Educational  Publishing  Co.,  New  York.  This  house 
pubUshes  also  the  "Ten-cent  Classics."  The  Normal  Instructor  Publish- 
ing Co.,  Dansville,  N.Y.,  publishes  many  books  of  this  character. 


250  Elementary  pedagogy 

It  has  been  said,  ^*If  you  can  cultivate  or  establish  in 
your  pupils  a  genuine  love  for  good  reading,  you  will  have 
conferred  upon  them  a  perfectly  inestimable  blessing.  A 
boy  who  really  enjoys  the  fine  thoughts  of  our  great  writers 
can  never  go  far  wrong.  Though  absolutely  alone,  he 
need  never  be  lonely.  Though  friendless  and  forsaken, 
he  can  associate  with  the  master  minds  which  the  ages 
have  labored  to  produce.  Though  poor  in  this  world's 
goods,  he  can  claim  and  enjoy  as  his  rightful  heritage  all 
the  best  that  has  gone  before.'' 

Memory.  —  This  power  is  most  retentive  during  the 
period  when  the  imagination  is  most  active.  Indeed,  more 
definite  and  lasting  impressions  are  made  upon  the  mind 
during  the  period  from  seven  or  eight  to  twelve  or  fourteen 
than  during  any  other  time  of  life.  I  knew  a  woman  who 
had  passed  the  century  mark  and  who  was  in  full  posses- 
sion of  her  mental  faculties.  She  remembered  perfectly 
events  that  took  place  ninety  years  before  when  she  was 
ten  years  old,  but  could  recall  nothing  that  took  place 
twenty  years  before  when  she  was  eighty.  G.  Stanley 
Hall  maintains  that  the  principal  mental  training  during 
the  period  under  discussion  is  "arbitrary  memorization, 
drill  habituation  with  only  limited  appeal  to  the  under- 
standing." And  James  M.  Greenwood,  commenting  on 
this  statement,  forcefully  asks  —  "Is  this  man  a  seer? 
Has  he  seen  into  human  nature  farther  and  better  than 
multiplied  thousands  of  others?  He  is  neither  mad  nor 
dreaming.  He  is  telling  the  teachers  of  America  gospel 
truth." ' 

*  Educational  Review^  Vol.  XXIX,  p.  360. 


THREE   STAGES   OF   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  25 1 

If  tliis  be  true,  and  most  thoughtful  educators  accept 
it  as  true,  texts  of  scripture,  memory  gems,  poems,  and 
other  material  that  should  be  woven  into  the  intellectual 
and  moral  fabric,  should  be  thoroughly  memorized  during 
this  period.  Dr.  Edson  remarks,  ^^  Suitable  memory  gems 
and  recitations  should  have  a  place  in  every  school  and 
in  every  grade.  Time  and  effort  given  to  memorizing 
some  of  the  standard  selections  in  verse  and  prose  will 
bring  rich  returns  in  many  ways.  Not  only  will  memory 
be  trained  —  a  much  neglected  faculty  in  these  latter 
days  —  but  the  head  and  heart  will  be  filled  with  *  beautiful 
thoughts,  beautifully  expressed.'" 

Another  lesson  is  also  apparent,  namely,  that  our  courses 
of  study,  which  place  the  beginning  of  the  study  of 
languages  in  the  high  school  —  when  the  child  is  fourteen 
or  fifteen  years  of  age  —  are  based  upon  false  principles. 
The  chief  thing  in  beginning  to  learn  a  foreign  tongue  is 
to  fix  the  declensions,  conjugations,  and  other  accidents, 
together  with  the  acquirement  of  a  vocabulary.  This 
certainly  is  largely  a  matter  of  mem.ory,  and  therefore  the 
acquirement  of  these  languages  should  be  begun  and  car- 
ried well  forward  during  the  memory  period  previous  to 
the  fourteenth  year. 

The  Training  of  the  Memory.  —  That  the  memory  should 
receive  training  as  truly  as  any  other  power  of  the  mind  is  a 
fact  that  needs  to  be  reiterated  and  reestablished.  This 
training  has  been  by  far  too  much  neglected  and  children 
as  a  consequence  are  lacking  in  exactness  and  thoroughness. 
Artificial  means  should  be  totally  discarded,  as  they  fail 
to  produce  any  permanent  result  in  aiding  the  memory. 


252  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

Rosenkranz  suggests  that  to  train  the  memory,  *^The 
means  to  be  used  (and  these  are  based  on  the  nature  of 
memory  itself)  are,  on  the  one  hand,  the  pronoimcing  and 
writing  of  numbers,  and  on  the  other,  repetition;  by  the 
former  means  we  gain  distinctness,  and  by  the  latter,  sure- 
ness  of  memory." 

There  are  three  things  that  must  always  be  observed  in 
cultivating  the  memory  and  in  permanently  fixing  material 
in  the  mind.  First,  the  attention  must  be  given  to  the 
thing  to  be  remembered.  No  impression  will  be  made 
unless  the  mind  attends  to  the  matter  in  hand.  Second, 
there  must  be  many  repetitions  in  order  to  deepen  and  fix 
the  impression  made.  And  third,  logical  order  must  be 
followed.  Thus  if  the  dates  of  history,  the  kings  or  presi- 
dents of  a  country,  the  verses  of  a  chapter  are  taken  in 
order,  they  \vill  be  more  easily  remembered.  Association 
also  assists  the  memory.  A  friend  whom  I  have  not  seen 
for  twenty- five  years  calls  upon  me.  Scenes  and  events 
that  occurred  in  boyhood  and  of  which  we  had  not  thought 
for  many  years,  are  called  up  through  the  meeting  between 
us,  by  association.  I  wish  to  recall  a  name  that  has 
gone  from  memory,  and,  starting  with  the  first  letter  of  the 
alphabet,  I  ask,  "Does  it  begin  with  A,  with  B,  with  C, 
etc.?"  until  possibly  I  can  recall  through  the  associating 
process  the  whole  name. 

Memory  should  have  definite  and  systematic  training,  and 
there  is  need  of  a  revival  of  interest  in  this  respect.  Atten- 
tion^ repetition  J  logical  order  are  the  key- words  in  training 
memory,  and  the  teacher  can  improve  the  memory  of  his 
pupils  or  of  himself  by  adhering  to  these  ideas. 

It  is  urged  by  many  that  the  child  should  never  be 


THREE   STAGES   OF   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  253 

required  to  commit  to  memory  what  he  does  not  understand. 
While  this  may  be  accepted  as  a  general  principle,  there  are 
certainly  many  very  forcible  exceptions  to  it.  Some  things 
that  should  be  exactly  remembered  cannot  be  understood 
until  mature  life,  if  even  then.  The  Lord's  Prayer,  the 
Apostle's  Creed,  the  Catechism,  gems  of  hterature,  should 
be  committed  to  memory  during  the  retentive  period  long 
before  they  are  understood.  Their  meaning  will  become 
clear  in  maturer  life,  and  the  material  so  thoroughly  fixed 
in  the  memory  becomes  a  precious  and  appreciated  acquire- 
ment. If  the  memorizing  of  them  is  delayed  until  they  are 
understood,  the  fixing  of  most  valuable  material  in  the 
mind  becomes  very  difficult  if  not  impossible.  Hence  they 
should  be  memorized  during  the  early  years  even  before 
they  are  understood. 

III.  REASON.  —  The  third  epoch  in  intellectual  devel- 
opment is  the  logical  epoch,  or  the  epoch  of  reasoning.  No 
hard  and  fast  lines  can  be  made  fixing  the  period  of  sense- 
perception,  of  imagination,  or  of  reason.  But  knowledge  is 
gained  during  the  first  seven  or  eight  years  chiefly  through 
the  senses,  during  the  next  six  or  seven  years  through 
imagination,  and  after  that  through  reason.  This  fact 
must  be  taken  into  account  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
course  of  study,  and  in  the  method  of  instruction.  The 
thinking  activity  is  dependent  upon  the  processes  which 
have  preceded.  Thinking  employs  all  that  has  been 
gained  through  the  senses  and  through  imagination,  but 
it  leads  into  a  realm  of  its  own,  it  forms  images  of  its 
own,  it  comprehends  the  general  notion,  it  proceeds  to  ab- 
straction, which  represents  the  highest  form  of  intellectuality, 
the  end  to  be  sought  in  education. 


^54  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

There  is  no  doubt  that,  *'The  fostering  of  the  sense  of 
truth,  from  the  earliest  years  up,  is  the  surest  way  of 
leading  the  pupil  to  gain  the  power  of  thinking.  The 
unprejudiced,  disinterested  yielding  to  truth,  as  well  as  the 
effort  to  shun  all  deception  and  false  seeming,  is  of  greatest 
value  in  strengthening  the  power  of  reflection."  Lying 
inculcates  looseness,  not  only  in  expression,  but  also  in 
thought,  while  truth  fosters  accuracy  both  in  expression 
and  thought.  Exaggeration  and  untruthfulness,  and  often 
the  distinction  between  the  two  is  difficult  to  mark,  have  a 
tendency  to  create  a  state  in  which  one  does  not  know 
whether  one's  statements  are  true  or  not,  and  surely  this  is 
destructive  to  correct  thinking.  Therefore,  the  training  of 
youth  to  think  and  speak  the  truth  has  an  inteellctual  as 
well  as  a  moral  value.  There  is  little  hope  of  attaining 
intellectual  power  unless  the  sense  of  truth  is  intrenched  in 
the  very  fiber  of  the  soul.  The  great  thinkers  of  all  ages 
have  been  noted  for  their  love  for  and  practice  of  simple 
truth  according  to  their  enlightenment. 

Training  the  Logical  Powers.  —  Many  have  believed  that 
the  chief  means  of  training  the  logical  power  is  mathe- 
matics. The  reason  for  this  is  that  mathematics  cannot 
be  taught  without  employing  the  reason,  while  many  other 
subjects  of  the  curriculum  can  be.  History  can  be  merely 
committed  to  memory  and  the  teacher  can  hear  the  pupils 
recite.  Geography  work  may  consist  in  learning  defini- 
tions and  hunting  up  places  on  the  map.  Reading  may  be 
a  mere  calling  of  the  words  of  the  text  with  correct  empha- 
sis and  inflections  without  a  comprehension  of  the  beauties 
of  literature  or  of  the  thought  contained.     Science  may  be 


THREE   STAGES   OF   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  2^  C^ 

studied  by  simply  committing  to  memory  text- book  state- 
ments. But  this  is  not  the  best  teaching,  perhaps  not  teach- 
ing at  all.  Every  subject  of  the  curriculum  should  be  so 
taught  as  to  call  forth  the  causes  which  led  to  certain 
effects.  The  least  value  of  all  in  history  is  the  memorizing 
of  events.  The  underlying  cause  must  be  discovered,  the 
various  incidents  that  have  led  up  to  certain  results  must 
be  traced  in  their  relation  to  each  other  and  to  the  final 
outcome,  and  the  effect  of  the  whole  upon  civilization  and 
upon  the  world's  progress  be  brought  to  light.  And  this 
requires  the  exercise  of  the  highest  reasoning  power.  The 
location  of  cities  and  causes  that  led  to  such  location,  the 
effect  of  climate,  temperature,  etc.,  the  influence  of  rivers 
and  other  bodies  of  water  upon  climate  and  commerce, 
these  and  other  matters  of  geography  must  be  studied  in 
relation  to  the  earth  as  the  home  of  man,  which  also  neces- 
sitates a  consideration  of  cause  and  effect.  While  due 
attention  in  reading  must  be  given  to  the  conventional 
requirements — the  correct  pronunciation  of  words,  the 
inflections,  the  pauses  —  the  great  purpose  of  reading  is  to 
get  at  the  thought,  to  comprehend  the  meaning  of  the 
author,  to  grasp  the  truth  taught.  The  study  of  science 
takes  the  student  into  the  deep  things  of  Nature  and 
reveals  her  symmetry,  her  eternal  laws,  and  the  logical 
sequence  of  her  manifestations.  And  so,  whatever  the 
subject  taught  the  teacher  will  be  able  to  make  it  contribute 
to  the  training  of  the  pupil  to  reason,  especially  if  he  has 
reached  the  period  of  life  when  reason  predominates.  And, 
while  the  logical  power  is  thus  trained,  the  subject  itself 
will  be  far  better  taught,  its  truths  revealed,  and  it  will  be 
made  to  serve  its  purpose  as  a  means  of  the  development  of 


256  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

the  child.  All  the  subjects  of  the  curriculum  should  con- 
tribute to  the  cultivation  of  the  reasoning  power,  though 
none  can  take  the  place  of  mathematics,  which  is  essential 
to  the  cultivation  of  pure  reason. 

The  Use  of  the  Rule.  —  The  final  step  in  logical  training  is 
the  complete  statement,  which  brings  the  whole  matter  into 
small  compass'in  the  form  of  a  principle,  logical  summary, 
or  rule.  Some  object  to  requiring  the  child  to  commit  to 
memory  a  rule,  urging  that  if  he  has  grasped  the  subject  he 
may  be  left  to  express  his  knowledge  of  it  in  his  own  words 
and  in  his  own  way.  This  attitude  is  the  extreme  opposite 
of  the  earlier  method  which  started  out  by  requiring  the  rule 
to  be  committed  to  memory  without  regard  to  an  understand- 
ing of  its  meaning,  and  then  attempting  to  apply  its  teaching. 
The  falsity  of  tliis  method  being  understood,  educators  im- 
mediately swung  to  the  other  extreme  and  declared  that  the 
rule  should  never  be  learned,  an  error  almost  as  great  as 
the  former.  The  truth  evidently  lies  in  the  middle  ground. 
Take  a  concrete  illustration,  as  for  example,  learning  long 
division.  Teach  the  child  the  process,  have  him  explain 
how  he  worked  a  given  example,  then  let  him  tell  in  his 
own  words  how  any  example  in  long  division  should  be 
worked,  thus  forming  a  rule,  and  finally,  let  him  commit  to 
memory  the  stated  rule.  It  will  not  then  be  beyond  his 
comprehension,  it  will  be  in  more  accurate  language,  it  will 
express  the  whole  truth  and  no  more.^ 


*  See  p.  93  for  further  treatment  of  this  topic. 


THREE   STAGES   OF   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  257 

Summary 

L  The  medium  through  which  the  child  begins  to  get 
acquainted  with  external  things  is  his  senses.  Accuracy  of 
perception  depends  upon  the  number  of  sensations  received, 
upon  the  order  they  are  received,  upon  their  vividness,  upon 
association,  and  upon  the  attention  that  is  given.  Concrete 
material  should  be  employed  when  necessary,  but  abandoned 
as  soon  as  the  abstract  notion  is  gained.  Definite  training 
of  the  eye  is  given  through  pictures,  collections,  and  drawing; 
of  the  ear,  chiefly  by  means  of  music  and  the  proper  pitch  in 
reading, 

II,  The  second  stage  of  development  is  imagination, 
which  may  be  defined  as  the  power  of  calling  up  images, 
perceptions  already  gained  through  the  senses,  and  combin- 
ing them  into  new  images.  Through  combining,  rearrang- 
ing, and  developing  these  ideas  by  means  of  creative  imagi- 
nation the  result  is  a  new  creation,  —  a  poem,  an  essay,  a 
painting,  a  sculpture,  an  invention,  a  contribution  to  the 
world^s  riches  and  to  the  progress  of  civilization.  The  im- 
agination is  trained  chiefly  through  works  of  art  and  litera- 
ture. Good  taste  can  be  formed  by  furnishing  the  pupils 
with  wholesome,  pure,  and  interesting  material, 

III,  Memory  is  most  retentive  during  this  period.  Hence 
memory  gems,  texts  of  Scripture,  the  beginning  of  foreign 
tongues,  and  other  material  requiring  accurate  memory  should 
be  taught  at  this  time.  Memory  is  trained  by  fixing  the 
attention,  by  repetition,  and  by  presenting  the  subject-matter 
in  logical  order.     Artificial  means  should  be  discarded. 


258  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

IV.  The  final  stage  of  intellectual  development  is  that  of 
reason^  or  the  logical  epoch.  Thinking,  while  based  upon 
perceptions  and  conceptions,  enters  a  realm  of  its  own,  it 
comprehends  the  general  notion,  it  proceeds  to  abstraction,  — 
the  highest  form  of  intellectuality,  the  end  to  be  sought  in 
education.  Every  subject  in  the  curriculum  may  be  so 
taught  as  to  develop  the  reasoning  power.  While  in  each 
of  the  three  stages  of  development,  —  sense- perception,  im- 
agination, and  reason,  —  these  are  the  predominant  char- 
acteristics, as  has  been  shown,  there  is  an  overlapping 
between  them,  and  no  period  belongs  exclusively  to  any  one 
of  them. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  ACT  OF  LEARNING 

References.  —  McMurry,  Method  of  the  Recitation;  also,  Series 
of  Works  on  Special  Methods;  Ogden,  Science  of  Education; 
Parker  J  Talks  on  Pedagogics;  Spencer  ^  Education;  Sahin,  Common 
Sense  Didactics;  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten,  and  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Fifteen;  Shaw,  A  New  Course  of  Study;  Chancellor ,  Our 
Schools,  their  Administration  and  Supervision. 

Instruction  presupposes  a  person  qualified  to  teach  and 
another  possessing  the  capacity  to  learn.  The  teacher  must 
first  have  knowledge  to  impart,  and  then  know  how  to  bring 
that  knowledge  within  the  range  of  the  learner's  compre- 
hension. While  special  methods  are  valuable  as  a  means 
of  increasing  the  skill  in  the  art  of  teaching,  and  adding 
to  the  efficiency  of  the  work,  they  are  necessarily  subor- 
dinate to  knowledge  itself.  (See  p.  io8.)  The  acquirement 
of  knowledge  is  a  long  and  slow  process;  skill  in  presenting 
it  to  others  may  be  rapidly  attained. 

Education  a  Process  of  Cancellation.  —  The  relation  of 
teacher  to  pupil  necessitates  taking  for  granted  that  there 
is  an  inequality  between  them.  The  teacher  knows  the 
subject  to  be  presented,  the  pupil  is  ignorant  of  it.  In 
the  words  of  Rosenkranz,^  ''All  instruction  starts  from  the 
inequality  between  those  who  possess  knowledge  and  abil- 
ity and  those  who  have  not  yet  obtained  them.  The 
former  are  qualified  to  teach,  the  latter  to  learn.     Instruc- 

^  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  io6. 
259 


26o  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

tion  is  the  act  which  gradually  cancels  the  original  inequal- 
ity of  teacher  and  pupil,  in  that  it  converts  what  was  at  first 
the  property  of  the  former  into  the  property  of  the  latter 
by  means  of  his  own  activity.''     It  follows  that  where  there 
is  much  to  give,  where  the  teacher  possesses  a  large  fund  of 
knowledge  and  experience,  the  learner  may  enjoy  the  greater 
advantages,  has  more  to  expect,  because  there  is  greater 
inequality  to  cancel.     Hence  those  who  would  employ  as 
teacher  the  untrained  and  insufficiently  educated  young  girl 
on  the  ground  that  her  pupils  are  young,  urging  that  *'she 
knows  enough  to  teach  these  little  children,"  are  laboring 
under  a  fundamental  error.     Where  the  difference  between 
the  teacher  and  the  pupil  is  but  little,  the  latter  can  receive 
but    little.     Thus,  instead    of    employing    inexperienced 
teachers  at  small  cost  as  a  matter  of  economy,  the  expendi- 
ture becomes  really  waste.     It  is  not  enough  that  those 
placed  in  charge  of  a  school  should  know  only  the  subjects 
they  are  to  teach,  they  must  possess  a  reserve  upon  which 
they  can  draw  so  that  out  of  the  fulness  and  richness  of 
their  knowledge  they  may  present  "things  new  and  old." 
It  must  be  taken  for  granted,  however,  that  the  instructor 
has  pedagogical  insight  and  mastery  of  method  which  will 
enable  him  so  to  present  his  subject-matter  as  to  bring  it 
within    the   comprehension    of   his   pupils.     Without   this 
power  to  impart,  it  will  be  difficult  to  bridge  the  difference 
between  the  two.     The  well-equipped  teacher,  therefore, 
will  possess  the  necessary  knowledge,  and  also  the  profes- 
sional skill  in  the  art  of  presenting  it.     The  culture  work  of 
the  high  school  and  college  must  be  supplemented  by  training 
in  the  technique  of  teaching  as  truly  as  the  medical  student, 
the  lawyer,  or  the  dentist,  must  be  trained  in  the  technique 
of  his  profession. 


THE  ACT   OF   LEARNING  26 1 

Instruction  the  Principal  Work  of  the  School.  —  The  chief 
work  of  the  teacher  is  to  instruct,  and  the  management  of 
the  school,  the  maintenance  of  discipline,  and  the  preservation 
of  order,  which  are  absolutely  essential,  are  only  means  to  an 
end,  that  end  being  the  instruction  of  the  children.  Order 
is  maintained  only  because  teaching  cannot  go  on  without 
it,  and  therefore  it  should  never  be  given  prominence.  This 
thought  should  be  emphasized,  and  it  will  be  found  that 
if  the  instruction  is  interesting  and  suitable,  disorder  is 
unHkely  to  appear  and  the  true  function  of  the  school  can 
be  fulfilled. 

Rosenkranz  indicates  three  stages  of  development 
through  instruction,  namely,  apprenticeship,  journeyman- 
ship,  and  mastership,  following  the  distinctions  employed 
in  trades,  which  indicate  degrees  of  efficiency.  The  ap- 
prentice is  under  the  direction  of  a  master.  He  must  learn 
to  be  self-directive,  and  this  is  an  essential  result  to  be 
sought  in  intellectual  education  as  well.  The  child  is  an 
apprentice,  a  learner,  and  he  must  be  taught  to  be  inde- 
pendent, so  that  he  can  continue  his  education  when  he  is 
separated  from  his  school  and  his  teacher.  When  it  is 
borne  in  mind  that  the  average  time  that  an  American  child 
spends  in  school,  according  to  Dr.  Harris,  is  about  five 
years,  and  that  more  than  eighty  per  cent  of  the  children 
leave  school  before  the  completion  of  their  twelfth  year,  the 
necessity  of  securing  this  essential  power  of  self- direction 
at  the  earliest  possible  age  becomes  evident.  Without  this 
power,  education  has  failed  to  fulfil  its  greatest  function,  for 
it  does  not  equip  the  man  to  continue  his  development  even 
after  he  is  thrown  upon  his  own  resources.  The  work  of 
the  elementary  school,  which  alone  reaches  four-fifths  of  the 


262  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

children,  is  thus  demonstrated  to  be  the  most  important 
of  all  educational  work.  Every  teacher,  therefore,  should 
seek  to  bring  his  pupils  as  early  as  possible  from  the  state 
of  educational  apprenticeship  into  the  larger  life  of  inde- 
pendent beings,  capable  of  self-direction. 

The  method  of  instruction  is  important  in  securing 
this  result.  The  imparting  method  (Erziehende-Unter- 
richt),  as  practiced  in  the  German  Volksschule  fails  to 
do  it,  for  but  few  children  who  leave  school  at  fourteen 
years  of  age,  however  thorough  their  mastery  of  the  subject- 
matter,  however  comprehensive  their  general  knowledge, 
have  either  the  desire  or  the  ability  to  pursue  their  educa- 
tion further.  Give  the  child  the  ability  to  direct  his  own 
culture,  and  the  desire  to  continue  to  advance,  and  the  great- 
est office  of  the  school  has  been  accomplished.  His  educa- 
tional apprenticeship,  if  not  completed,  is  so  far  along  that 
he  will  know  how  to  complete  it  and  will  be  likely  to  do  so. 
If  he  must  forego  further  educational  advantages,  the  whole 
field  of  knowledge  is  still  before  him.  Having  learned  to 
discover  things  for  himself,  having  been  taught  where  to  go 
for  information  and  how  to  study,  books,  and  nature,  and 
the  whole  world  will  be  at  his  command.  The  difficulties 
of  knowledge  will  disappear  before  his  perseverance,  his 
industry,  and  his  intelligent  mastery  of  himself.  He  is  now 
capable,  like  the  journeyman  in  the  trades,  of  doing  inde- 
pendent work.  Although  he  may  still  be  under  a  master, 
he  may  be  assigned  tasks  which  he  can  perform  alone 
without  supervision  or  direction. 

The  final  stage  —  final  in  a  relative  sense  only —  is  that 
of  mastership.  In  this  stage  the  individual  not  only  knows 
how  to  direct  his  own  efforts  with  perfect  freedom,  but  he  is 


THE  ACT  OF   LEARNING  263 

also  able  to  direct  and  instruct  others.  As  Rosenkranz 
remarks,  *^The  master  is  complete  only  in  relation  to  the 
journeyman  and  apprentice;  to  them  he  is  superior.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  in  relation  to  the  infinity  of  the  prob- 
lems of  his  art  or  science,  he  is  by  no  means  complete;  to 
himself  he  must  appear  as  one  who  begins  ever  anew, 
one  who  is  ever  striving,  one  to  whom  a  new  problem 
ever  rises  from  every  achieved  result.  He  cannot  discharge 
himself  from  work,  he  must  never  rest  on  his  laurels.  He 
is  the  truest  master  whose  finished  performances  only  force 
him  on  to  never-resting  progress."  Like  Sir  Isaac  Newton, 
he  regards  himself  as  '^A  child  gathering  pebbles  on  the 
seashore." 

"Who  shall  pupil  be?" 

"Everyone/' 

"  Who  shall  craftsman  be  ?  " 

"  Who  good  work  has  done." 

"  Who  shall  master  be  ?  " 

"  He  who  thought  has  won." 

Thus  the  process  of  instruction  will  vary  under  the  dif- 
ferent stages  of  development,  ever  aiming  to  bring  the  learner 
into  the  largest  possible  ability  to  direct  his  own  education. 
How  far  this  may  be  carried  depends  upon  the  capacity 
of  the  individual,  as  we  have  already  remarked  (p.  159). 
With  the  mass  of  humanity  the  greatest  skill  in  instruc- 
tion is  required.  To  uncover  hidden  powers,  and  make 
the  most  of  them,  to  distinguish  the  presence  of  capac- 
ity and  its  absence,  to  stimulate  the  backward  and  arouse 
the  dull,  to  give  courage  to  the  timid  and  lead  them  to  at- 
tack difficulties,  to  awaken  the  interest  of  the  indolent,  is 
the  teacher's  most  difficult  task  —  a  measure  of  his  skill 


264  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

and  power.  Herbert  Spencer  well  remarks,  "Mankind, 
like  a  group  of  men  selected  haphazard,  is  made  up  of  a 
few  clever  individuals,  many  ordinary  ones,  and  some  de- 
cidedly stupid."  It  is  with  the  "ordinary  ones"  that  the 
teacher  is  chiefly  concerned.  Where  there  is  total  incapacity, 
the  school  can  do  nothing.  But  one  must  not  be  too  ready 
to  accept  apparent  incapacity  in  some  particular  field.  It 
often  occurs  that  a  child  really  possesses  powers  that  are 
dormant  and  that  need  arousing.  Possibly  it  is  a  case  of 
arrested  development  —  happily  not  so  common  as  formerly 
since  child-study  has  made  so  many  discoveries  in  the 
development  of  children;  it  may  be  that  because  of  some 
physical  condition  the  child  is  temporarily  under  a  cloud; 
or  it  may  be  that  the  subject-matter  offered  belongs  to  a 
later  period  of  the  child's  life.  Whatever  the  cause,  patience, 
watchfulness,  and  careful  solicitude  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher  should  safeguard  the  child  and  intelligent  effort  be 
made  to  lead  it  into  the  light,  or  at  least,  bring  to  it  the  very 
best  it  is  capable  of  receiving. 

With  bright  and  talented  pupils,  there  is  less  difficulty  so 
far  as  bringing  them  to  grasp  the  material  of  instruction  is 
concerned ;  but  there  is  danger  that  they,  accustomed  to  gain 
knowledge  with  little  effort,  may  lack  perseverance,  may 
appreciate  too  little  the  value  of  education,  and  may  there- 
fore be  satisfied  with  superficial  knowledge.  It  is  as  true , 
in  education  as  in  life,  that  which  costs  little  is  valued  little. 
Hence  the  slow,  mediocre,  perhaps  dull  pupil,  who  must 
work  for  what  he  gets,  is  apt  to  learn  patience,  persever- 
ance, fidelity,  and  that  dogged  persistence  which  never  rec- 
ognizes defeat.  His  knowledge  costs  him  great  effort,  and 
when  it  is  gained,  it  is  not  only  appreciated,  but  eternally 
fixed. 


THE  ACT   OF   LEARNING  26$ 

Many  children  are  precocious  in  certain  directions. 
Such  children  need  to  be  carefully  guarded  in  order  to  pre- 
vent egotism  on  the  one  hand,  and  premature  develop- 
ment on  the  other.  ^^  Youthful  precocity/'  says  George 
Eliot,  *4s  like  too  early  rising,  apt  to  be  followed  by  a  long 
and  wearisome  afternoon."  Too  much  notice  of  specially 
bright  children,  either  in  the  home  or  in  the  school,  has 
a  tendency  to  make  them  self-conscious  and  vain,  and  to 
destroy  that  innocence  and  naivety  which  are  the  charm  of. 
childhood. 

The  Professionally  Taught  and  the  Self-Taught.  —  After 
a  child  has  passed  through  his  educational  apprenticeship 
his  further  development  may  be  obtained  in  general  by 
two  means,  (i)  through  professional  channels,  and  (2) 
through  self-teaching.  In  either  case  his  progress  may  be 
continuous,  being  limited  only  by  his  capacity,  and  by  the 
amount  of  time  and  effort  he  may  devote  to  it.  Of  course 
there  are  decided  advantages  possessed  by  the  first  of  these 
means,  that  is,  through  the  discipline  of  organized  educa- 
tion as  represented  in  schools.  As  Dr.  Harris  puts  it, 
"The  professionally  educated  masters  thoroughly  what  the 
experience  of  the  race  has  transmitted  to  his  own  specialty, 
and  hence  increases  his  own  stature  by  standing  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  human  race."  He  begins  at  the  point 
that  the  world's  development  has  reached  and  goes  forward 
to  a  higher  level.  The  school,  with  its  course  of  study  — 
the  result  of  the  experience  and  wisdom  of  centuries  —  with 
its  systematic  teaching  and  its  thoroughness,  with  its  edu- 
cated teachers,  and  with  its  equipment,  stands  for  profes- 
sional education.     In  it  the  pupil  accepts  what  the  world 


266  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

has  learned  and  what  is  established,  and  presses  forward 
into  new  fields  of  discovery  and  investigation.  Thus 
further  progress  in  civilization  becomes  possible. 

The  person  who  must  depend  upon  teaching  himself, 
although  he  possesses  the  two  requisites  heretofore  pointed 
out,  namely,  desire  for  further  improvement  and  knowledge 
of  how  to  attain  it,  such  person  will  always  be  handi- 
capped by  lack  of  material  equipment,  the  tools  with 
which  to  work,  by  uncertainty  as  to  selection  of  material, 
by  the  uneconomical  methods  employed,  and  by  the  want 
of  guidance  by  more  experienced  and  wiser  men.  Quoting 
from  Rosenkranz,^  ''The  self-taught  man  has  often  true 
talent,  or  even  genius,  to  whose  development,  nevertheless, 
the  inherited  culture  has  been  denied,  and  who  by  good 
fortune  has  through  his  own  strength  worked  his  way  into 
the  field  of  effort.  The  self-taught  man  is  distinguished 
from  the  amateur  by  the  thoroughness  and  industry  with 
which  he  acts;  he  is  not  only  equally  unfortunate  with  him 
in  the  absence  of  school  training,  but  is  much  less  assisted 
by  the  advice  of  the  competent.  Even  if  the  self-taught 
man  has  for  years  studied  and  practiced  much,  he  is  still 
haunted  by  the  feeling  of  uncertainty  as  to  whether  he  has 
yet  reached  the  standpoint  at  which  a  science,  an  art,  or  a 
trade,  will  receive  him  publicly.  It  is  of  great  consequence 
that  man  should  be  comprehended  and  recognized  by  man. 
The  self-taught  man,  therefore,  remains  embarrassed,  and 
does  not  free  himself  from  the  apprehension  that  he  may 
expose  some  weak  point  to  a  professional,  or  he  falls  into 
the  other  extreme  —  he  becomes  presumptuous,  steps  forth 
a  reformer,  and,  if  he  accomplishes  nothing,  or  earns  only 

*  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  iii. 


THE   ACT   OF   LEARNING  26/ 

ridicule,  he  sets  himself  down  as  a  martyr  unrecognized 
by  an  unappreciative  and  unjust  world." 

The  Course  of  Study.  —  The  material  of  instruction  is 
indicated  in  the  course  of  study.  For  centuries  the 
formation  of  a  school  curriculum  has  been  the  center 
of  educational  thought  and  experiment.  Sturm's  course  of 
study,  which  appeared  in  1538,  is  the  oldest  attempt 
of  Protestant  educators  to  systematize  the  material  of  in- 
struction into  an  organic  unity.  Indeed,  Williams  says,^ 
*^  With  regard  to  Sturm's  plan  of  organization,  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  it  is  the  very  earliest  scheme  that  we 
have,  looking  to  an  extended,  systematic,  and  well-articu- 
lated course  of  studies  for  a  school  of  several  teachers,  in 
which  is  assigned  to  each  class  such  portions  of  the  sub- 
ject-matter of  the  course  of  instruction  as  is  suited  to  the 
age  and  stage  of  advancement  of  its  pupils."  This  plan 
had  the  merit  of  definiteness,  thoroughness,  and  unity, 
though  even  Sturm  found  trouble  in  carrying  out  its  full 
requirements.  . 

Later  the  Jesuits  produced  the  Ratio  Studiorum,  a  scheme 
of  work  that  lays  principal  stress  upon  the  humanities  and 
religious  instruction.  In  his  ^^  Great  Didactic,"  Comenius 
presents  a  complete  plan  of  school  organization  covering 
the  whole  period  of  education  from  birth  till  the  completion 
of  the  university.  Modern  educators  have  not  been  want- 
ing in  zeal  for  the  improvement  of  school  courses,  and 
some  notable  documents  treating  this  subject  have  appeared, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned  the  "  Report  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Ten,"  of  the  ''  Committee  of  Fifteen,"  and  of  other 

*  "History  of  Modem  Education,"  p.  91, 


268  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

committees  of  the  National  Educational  Association;  *'A 
Suggestive  Course  of  Study  for  Primary,  Grammar,  and 
High  School  Grades,"  known  as  Document  No.  21,  of  the 
New  Jersey  Council  of  Education;  "A  New  Course  of 
Study,"  by  Edward  R.  Shaw.* 

Dr.  Balliet  remarks,  ^^  There  is  a  nascent  period  for  each 
physical  and  mental  power,  a  period  of  rapid  growth  when 
new  aptitudes  and  interests  are  developing.  It  is  our  dense 
ignorance  of  most  of  these  nascent  periods  that  makes  it  im- 
possible for  us  as  yet  to  prepare  a  proper  course  of  study. 
Hence  our  courses  of  study  are  little  more  than  conscientious 
guesses.  When  we  shall  know  more  about  these  nascent  peri- 
ods, we  shall  be  able  to  arrange  a  course  in  which  the  various 
phases  of  every  study  will  be  presented  at  the  proper  nascent 
period  when  they  will  appeal  most  strongly  to  the  child. 
Such  a  course  must  take  into  account  three  types  of 
children  —  the  observer,  the  thinker,  and  the  doer.  The 
last  type  has  but  recently  been  recognized  in  education."' 

It  may  be  said  that  every  course  of  study  must  include  all 
the  subjects  necessary  to  accomplish  the  purpose  it  sets  out 
to  attain,  which  subjects  must  be  so  arranged  as  to  be  sequen- 
tial in  their  order,  harmonious  in  their  relation  to  each  other, 
economical  in  the  presentation  of  material,  at  the  same  time 
offering  a  complete  unity  from  beginning  to  end.  There 
must  be  no  undue  repetition  of  subjects,  and  yet,  there  must 

*  This  is  an  "Analytical  Outline  of  a  Course  of  Study  for  Elementary 
Schools, "  in  which  the  work  for  the  first  eight  years  is  marked  out  according 
to  the  three  centers  that  De  Garmo  advocates,  namely.  Humanistic,  Scien- 
tific, and  Economic.  The  scheme  is  elaborately  developed  and  is  well  worth 
a  careful  study. 

^  See  De  Garmo,  "A  Working  Basis  for  the  Correlation  of  Studies, "£i- 
mational  Review^  Vol.  V,  p.  451  ;  also  "  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten." 


THE   ACT   OF   LEARNING  269 

be  enough  repetition  to  fix  the  material  in  the  pupil's  mind. 
It  may  be  remarked  that  the  same  subject  presented  at 
different  stages  of  the  child's  development,  under  varied 
conditions,  by  different  methods  and  different  teachers, 
not  only  affords  new  view-points  and  broader  conception 
of  the  lesson,  but  is  absolutely  essential  in  securing  thorough 
apperceptive  results.  Thus  repetition  instead  of  being  a 
waste  may  prove  the  truest  educational  economy. 

The  problem  has  been  to  decide  upon  the  essential  studies 
and  to  arrange  them  in  proper  order.  So  long  as  civiliza- 
tion progresses  no  permanent  curriculum  can  be  perfected. 
New  discoveries  and  inventions,  increased  demands  of  life, 
better  teachers  and  more  complete  equipment,  extended 
period  of  schooling  for  the  child,  more  correct  knowledge  of 
the  laws  of  human  development,  better  methods  of  teaching 
—  all  these,  make  improvement  and  extension  of  the  curri- 
culum both  imperative  and  possible.  Higher  institutions  of 
learning  are  the  first  to  feel  the  need  of  advance,  and  they 
endeavor  to  keep  pace  with  progress  by  increasing  their 
entrance  requirements  and  broadening  their  courses.  Sec- 
ondary schools  are  obliged  in  turn  to  change  and  raise  their 
standards  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  higher  institutions 
which  their  students  desire  to  enter,  and  finally  the  elemen- 
tary school  must  make  its  work  fit  the  new  exactions  of  the 
high  school.  Thus,  commencing  at  the  top  and  reach- 
ing downward  the  whole  course  has  been  changed.  Pres- 
ident Butler  has  shown  that  the  graduate  of  Columbia  be- 
fore the  Civil  War  was  not  so  well  equipped  as  the  sophomore 
of  the  present,  while  it  has  been  claimed  that  a  graduate  of 
Yale  of  fifty  years  ago  had  not  as  much  preparation  as  is  re- 
quired of  the  candidate  for  entrance  now.     A  constant  for- 


270  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

ward  movement  with  regard  to  the  curriculum  is  both  nat- 
ural and  necessary. 

This  increased  demand  upon  the  student  must  not  be  too 
exacting,  nor  must  the  higher  institutions  require  more  of 
the  schools  below  them  than  they  are  able  to  accomplish. 

While  no  ideal  course  of  study  has  yet  been  made,  and 
it  may  never  be  possible  to  construct  one,  owing  to 
the  new  demands  of  life,  and  to  advancing  civilization, 
every  corps  of  teachers  must  seek  to  bring  to  their  pupils 
the  very  best  that  their  concentrated  wisdom  can  attain. 

Nature  of  the  Course  of  Study.  —  We  design  here  to 
outHne  certain  mental  principles  that  must  control  in  any 
course  of  study,  leaving  to  each  faculty  the  duty  of  con- 
structing such  a  curriculum  as  their  school  demands.^ 
Among  the  principles  that  must  govern  this  work  are  the 
following : 

I.  The  subject  of  the  course  of  study  must  be  properly 
correlated.  —  The  Committee  of  Fifteen  very  forcibly 
urged  the  necessity  of  a  proper  correlation  of  studies  and 
suggested  the  branches  of  study  that  are  necessary  to  a 
complete  development.  Dr.  Harris  in  a  later  discussion 
of  that  report  says,^  ''The  studies  of  the  school  fall  natu- 
rally into  five  coordinate  groups,  thus  permitting  a  choice 
within  each  group  as  to  the  arrangement  of  its  several 

*  I  call  attention  to  two  solutions  that  have  lately  been  offered  as  follows : 
"A  New  Course  of  Study,'*  by  the  late  Dr.  Edward  R.  Shaw.  Document 
No.  21,  Council  of  Education  of  New  Jersey,  entitled,  "A  Suggestive  Course 
of  Study  for  Primary,  Grammar,  and  High  School  Grades." 

^  Dept.  of  Superintendence,  National  Educational  Association,  at  Jack- 
sonville, Fla.,  Feb.  1896. 


THE  ACT   OF   LEARNING  27 1 

topics,  some  finding  a  place  early  in  the  curriculum  and 
others  later.  These  five  coordinate  groups  were  first, 
mathematics  and  physics;  second,  biology,  including  chiefly 
the  plant  and  the  animal;  third,  literature  and  art,  includ- 
ing the  study  of  literary  works  of  art;  fourth,  grammar  and 
the  technical  and  scientific  study  of  language,  leading  to 
such  branches  as  logic  and  psychology;  fifth,  history  and 
the  study  of  sociological,  political,  and  social  institutions. 
Each  of  these  groups,  as  it  was  assumed,  should  be  repre- 
sented in  the  curriculum  at  all  times  by  some  topic  suited 
to  the  age  and  previous  training  of  the  pupil." 

A  few  years  ago  the  subject  of  correlation  received  a  great 
deal  of  attention  among  educational  thinkers  and,  as  a  result, 
a  more  careful,  systematic,  and  mutual  relation  has  been  es- 
tablished between  the  subjects  of  the  school  course.  Geog- 
raphy and  history,  reading,  spelling,  grammar,  and  litera- 
ture, mathematics  and  science,  language  and  composition, 
possess  a  mutual  relation  to  each  other,  which,  if  observed 
in  the  course  and  in  the  instruction,  advances  rather  than 
retards  the  progress  in  each  individual  subject,  at  the  same 
time  it  produces  a  well-balanced  development. 

2.  In  the  elementary  course  chief  stress  must  he  laid  upon 
the  essentials  of  culture.  —  Every  child  must  know  how 
to  read,  write,  and  cipher.  These  are  the  first  essentials 
demanded  of  the  schools  and  they  must  not  be  neglected. 
But  they  are  not  the  only  essentials  nor  by  any  means  the 
most  important.  They  are  the  means  to  an  end,  they 
open  the  door  to  the  fields  of  knowledge,  they  are  the  imple- 
ments of  work.  Being  the  key  that  unlocks  the  store- 
house of  knowledge,  perfect  mastery  of  them  should  be 
gained  and  no  excuse  for  less  than  this  can  be  tolerated. 


2/2  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

To  quote  again  from  Dr.  Harris,  '*The  first  stage  of  school 
education  is  education  for  culture,  and  education  for  the 
purpose  of  gaining  command  of  the  conventionalities  of 
intelligence.  These  conventionalities  are  such  arts  as 
reading  and  writing,  and  the  use  of  figures,  technicalities 
of  maps,  dictionaries,  the  art  of  drawing,  and  all  of  those 
semi-mechanical  facilities  which  enable  the  child  to  get 
access  to  the  intellectual  conquests  of  the  race.  Later  on 
in  the  school  course,  when  the  pupil  passes  out  of  the 
elementary  studies,  which  partake  more  of  the  nature  of 
practice  than  of  theory,  he  comes  to  the  secondary  school 
and  the  college,  to  the  study  of  science  and  the  technique 
necessary  for  its  preservation  and  communication.  All 
these  things  belong  to  the  first  stage  of  school  instruction 
whose  aim  is  culture." 

Opinions  may  differ  as  to  exactly  what  subjects  are 
necessary  for  culture,  and  as  to  how  early  mastery  of  these 
should  be  expected.  At  least  all  the  work  of  the  elementary 
school  is  embraced,  and  possibly  that  of  the  high  school 
and  much  of  the  college  course.  This  point  has  received 
treatment  in  a  former  chapter. 

3.  The  course  must  be  well-balanced  and  symmetrical,  — 
It  must  take  the  child  into  all  of  the  different  fields  of  human 
knowledge.  **From  the  primary  school  on  through  the 
academic  course  of  the  college,  there  should  be  symmetry, 
and  five  coordinate  groups  represented  at  each  part  of  the 
course — at  least  in  each  year,  although  perhaps  not  through- 
out each  part  of  the  year."  Dr.  Harris  as  we  have  seen,  marks 
out  five  branches  to  be  included.  (See  also  Chapter  II.) 
President  Butler  indicates  these  departments  of  knowledge 
to  be  science,  literature,  the  cesthetic,  the  institutional,  and 


THE  ACT   OF   LEARNING  2/3 

the  religious.  Dr.  De  Garmo  outlines  the  field  into  human 
sciences,  such  as  languages,  literature,  art,  and  history; 
natural  sciences,  such  as  physics,  chemistry,  astronomy, 
biology,  geography,  mathematics,  etc.;  economic  sciences, 
such  as  economics  proper,  technology,  and  commercial 
knowledge. 

Whatever  scheme  may  be  accepted,  the  teacher  in  formu- 
lating a  course  of  study,  should  see  to  it  that  every  child 
receives  instruction  in  each  of  the  branches  of  knowledge 
during  every  year  of  the  elementary  course. 

4.  The  course  must  take  into  account  the  stages  in  the 
child's  development.  —  In  the  intellectual  development  of 
the  child  there  is  a  period  when  the  sense  perceptions  are 
best  appealed  to,  another  period  when  memory  is  especially 
tenacious,  another  when  reason  predominates,  and  so  on. 
The  material  offered  him  should  be  selected  with  reference 
to  these  periods.  Thus,  the  course  should  appeal  largely  to 
the  senses  in  the  first  three  years,  should  furnish  material 
to  employ  the  memory  at  say  eight  to  twelve,  and  place  sub- 
jects that  require  much  reasoning  later.  The  development 
of  the  physical  body  should  also  be  taken  into  account. 
Control  of  the  motor  activities  should  be  sought  and  there 
should  be  such  systematic  and  natural  training  of  the  body 
as  will  not  only  foster  its  growth  and  maintain  its  health, 
but  also  bring  it  to  its  highest  physical  perfection.  The 
course  should  also  have  in  mind  the  development  of  sound 
and  intelligent  moral  habits  and  ethical  life. 

5.  The  course  must  meet  the  aim  for  which  it  is  in- 
tended.—  The  foregoing  principles  are  general  and  they 
should  be  applied  to  all  courses  for  elementary  schools  and 


2/4  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

for  all  who  are  beginning  to  acquire  an  education.  In 
more  advanced  work,  there  will  be  courses  for  technical 
students  —  commercial  courses,  engineering,  medical,  legal, 
theological,  pedagogical,  etc.  These  courses  should  be 
adapted  to  the  purpose  for  which  the  school  stands. 

What  th    Elementary  School  Should  Accomplish,  —  We 

have  said  that  every  course  must  meet  the  aim  of  the  school 
for  wh  ch  it  is  intended.  For  example,  the  course  of  the 
elementary  school  must  first  of  all  equip  the  child  for  his  life 
work.  It  may  well  be  asked,  What  has  the  parent  a  right  to 
expect  the  school  to  do  for  his  child?  It  would  seem  a  just 
requirement  that  the  child  who  has  completed  the  grammar 
school  course  at  the  age  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  should  possess 
the  following  qualifications: 

1.  He  should  be  able  to  speak  and  write  the  English 
language  accurately,  not  only  from  habit,  which,  of  course, 
is  of  chief  importance,  but  also  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
underlying  rules  of  grammar. 

2.  He  must  be  able  to  spell  correctly  such  words  as  he 
will  use  in  letter-writing  and  composition,  as  well  as  to 
write  legibly. 

3.  He  should  be  able  to  read  from  a  newspaper  or 
ordinary  book  with  clear  enunciation,  correct  pronuncia- 
tion, and  such  understanding  as  not  only  to  gain  the  thought 
himself,  but  also  to  convey  it  to  others  when  reading  aloud. 

4.  He  must  possess  suflacient  mastery  of  arithmetical 
processes  to  meet  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life. 

5.  He  must  be  familiar  with  the  history  of  our  own 


THE   ACT   OF   LEARNING  2/5 

country  and  also  have  some  acquaintance  with  the  most 
important  events  of  the  world's  history. 

6.  He  must  know  the  elementary  processes  of  our 
scheme  of  government  so  that  he  may  later  discharge  the 
duties  of  intelligent  and  patriotic  citizenship. 

7.  He  should  have  a  good  knowledge  of  geography. 

8.  He  should  understand  to  a  degree  the  structure,  sup- 
port, nourishment,  and  care  of  the  human  body. 

9.  He  should  know  something  of  elementary  science  so 
as  to  comprehend  the  ordinary  phenomena  of  the  world 
about  him. 

10.  In  addition,  he  will  know  many  things  that  cannot 
well  be  formulated;  such  as,  music,  handiwork,  drawing, 
and,  in  its  broadest  sense,  the  principles  of  ethical  living. 

If  the  school  fails  to  reach  approximately  these  results 
with  the  normal  child  who  is  regular  in  attendance,  the 
parent  has  a  right  to  complain,  and  the  course  of  study 
should  be  planned  to  accomplish  these  ends.  With  this 
foundation  to  build  upon,  the  higher  schools  can  direct 
his  activities  into  commercial,  scientific,  classical,  or 
technical  channels  to  meet  the  purpose  designed.  The 
Herbartian  school  of  pedagogy  has  rendered  the  cause 
of  education  great  service  by  calling  attention  to  the 
importance  of  a  proper  correlation  of  the  subjects  of  the 
school  course,  even  though  its  scheme  of  correlation  may 
be  considered  too  formal. 

Arrangement  of  the  Daily  Program.  —  The  success  of 
instruction  depends  in  a  measure,  upon  the  time  of  its 
presentation.     Investigations   have  proven   that  increased 


276  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

eflSciency  on  the  part  of  the  pupils  is  attained  through  a 
proper  arrangement  of  the  program  of  work.  Not  only  this, 
but  great  economy  is  effected  thereby.^  '^The  program/' 
says  Rosenkranz,^  **must  assign  the  exact  amount  of  time 
which  can  be  appropriated  to  each  study.  It  must  prescribe 
the  order  in  which  they  shall  follow  each  other,  it  must,  as 
far  as  possible,  imite  kindred  subjects,  so  as  to  avoid  the 
useless  repetition  which  dulls  the  charm  of  study;  it  must, 
in  determining  the  order,  bear  in  mind  at  the  same  time 
the  necessity  imposed  upon  the  subject  itself  and  the 
psychological  progression  of  intelligence  from  perception, 
through  conception,  to  the  thinking  activity  which  grasps 
all.'' 

The  powers  of  the  child  are  most  active  in  the  early  part 
of  the  day,  and  these  powers  diminish  with  each  succeeding 
period.  A  period  of  rest  or  recess  recuperates  the  strength 
in  part,  dependent  upon  its  nature  and  length.  While  all 
subjects  will  necessarily  lose  something  by  being  placed 
at  the  later  period  when  the  intellectual  vitality  is  weakened, 
some  will  suffer  more  than  others.  Thus  mathematics,  if 
placed  at  the  end  of  the  day  after  four  or  five  hours  of 
work,  would  suffer  more  than  a  subject  requiring  less 
concentration,  Hke  drawing,  penmanship,  nature  study  ,or 
laboratory  experiments. 

As  the  program  should  be  arranged  to  secure  the  least 
waste  and  the  greatest  efiiciency  in  the  presentation  of  all 
the  subjects,  the  following  conclusions  seem  inevitable: 
(i)  The  subjects  requiring  closest  attention,  greatest  use 
of  the  memory,  and  strictest  accuracy  should  be  placed  in 

*  See  "  Foundations  of  Education, "  chapter  on  "The  Daily  Program." 
'  "Philosophy  of  Education,**  p.  133. 


THE   ACT   OF   LEARNING  2// 

the  early  part  of  the  day.  This  would  mean  reading  for 
little  children,  this  being  their  most  important  work,  and 
mathematics  for  those  more  advanced.  (2)  Subjects  next 
in  difficulty,  such  as,  history,  science,  geography,  and 
formal  grammar  should  follow.  (3)  Subjects  requiring 
the  least  application  should  be  placed  toward  the  end  of 
the  session.  (4)  Inasmuch  as  the  intellectual  force  dimin- 
ishes with  increasing  ratio,  it  follows  that  with  young 
children  long  sessions  should  be  discouraged,  and  that 
there  should  be  frequent  recesses  during  the  day.  (5) 
Alternation  and  variety  in  the  program  will  add  to  the 
efficiency  of  the  work  and  serve  to  keep  up  the  interest  of 
the  pupils.  (6)  For  these  reasons,  the  work  of  the  elemen- 
tary school  should  be  assigned  to  grade  rather  than  depart- 
mental teachers. 

Means  of  Learning.  —  There  are  three  ways  by  which 
we  learn,  namely,  (i)  experience,  (2)  the  written  or 
printed  page,  and  (3)  oral  instruction.  Some  of  the  most 
important  lessons  of  life  are  learned  through  experience 
and  can  be  learned  in  no  other  way.  Indeed,  in  the  early 
years  this  is  the  chief  means  of  learning.  Through  the  senses 
a  person  gains  knowledge  of  the  things  he  experiences. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  child  learns  as  much  during  his 
first  seven  years  as  he  learns  during  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  This  statement  may  well  be  questioned,  for,  although 
it  is  remarkable  how  much  is  learned  during  these  years, 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  whatever  knowledge  is  already 
gained  opens  the  door,  through  the  apperceptive  process, 
to  new  knowledge.  Thus  the  possession  of  one  language 
prepares  the  way  for  the  acquirement  of  a  second,  and  the 


278  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

possession  of  two  or  three  languages  makes  the  learning 
of  another  still  more  easy.  It  is  an  illustration  of  the 
truth,  ^^To  him  that  hath,  shall  be  given."  It  is  difficult 
to  measure  all  that  a  child  of  seven  possesses.  He  is  ac- 
quainted with  perhaps  a  thousand  words  of  his  mother 
tongue,  and  knows  the  names  of  common  objects  and 
many  of  their  qualities;  is  familiar  with  his  environment  and 
knows  how  to  adjust  himself  to  it;  his  eye  has  learned  to 
see,  his  ear  to  hear,  his  hand  to  weigh  and  handle;  he  has 
learned  to  control  his  body,  direct  its  movements,  and 
perform  acts  of  skill  and  agility;  in  a  word,  a  child  of 
seven  has  met  and  removed  many  estrangements,  is  well 
on  the  way  toward  a  mastery  of  the  world^s  mysteries. 
But  in  each  of  the  years  that  follow,  if  there  be  no  cessation 
of  effort,  the  progress  may  continue  with  accelerated  speed 
as  long  as  life  lasts.  His  vocabulary  of  one  thousand  words 
has  been  multiplied  many  times  ;  literature,  art,  science, 
history,  have  brought  their  riches  to  him.  A  trade  or 
profession  may  have  been  mastered  by  him.  In  the  first 
case,  the  child  begins  with  nothing  but  the  capacity  to 
learn;  in  the  second  case,  he  still  possesses  that  capacity, 
and  has  the  impetus  which  the  experience,  the  training, 
the  knowledge  already  gained  give  him.  He  has  added 
to  experience,  as  a  means  of  learning,  the  power  to  read, 
and  facility  in  learning  from  others. 

It  is  not  suggested  that  experience  ceases  with  the  early 
years.  As  long  as  we  live  it  will  continue  to  be  a  means 
of  learning.  ''We  learn  to  do  by  doing,"  says  Comenius, 
and  much  of  the  work  of  the  school  requires  that  pupils 
shall  personally  experiment.  The  trade  or  profession  that 
one    selects    cannot    be  mastered  by  reading  books,   or 


THE  ACT   OF   LEARNING  279 

listening  to  lectures;  it  is  necessary  that  the  novice  shall 
have  actual  experience  before  he  attains  the  full  measure 
of  proficiency. 

Text-Books.  —  The  second  means  by  which  we  learn  is 
through  printed  or  written  characters.  In  the  words  of 
Rosenkranz/  '^What  we  learn  through  books  forms  a 
contrast  to  that  which  we  learn  through  living.  Life  forces 
upon  us  its  wisdom;  the  book,  on  the  contrary,  is  entirely 
passive.  It  is  locked  up  in  itself;  it  cannot  be  altered;  but 
it  waits  by  us  till  we  wish  to  use  it.  We  can  read  it  rapidly 
or  slowly;  we  can  simply  turn  over  its  leaves  —  what  in 
modern  time§  one  calls  reading  —  we  can  read  it  from 
beginning  tq  end  or  from  end  to  beginning;  we  can  stop, 
begin  again,  skip  over  passages,  or  cut  them  short,  as  we 
like.  To  this  extent  the  book  is  the  most  convenient  means 
for  instruction.''  The  hieroglyphics  on  the  Egyptian 
monuments,  or  the  tablets  found  in  the  library  of  Nippur 
are  utterly  meaningless  unless  some  one  possesses  the  key 
of  interpretation,  unless  they  can  be  read.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  characters  in  a  reading  book  to  the  child  when 
he  first  sees  them.  They  must  be  interpreted  to  him,  that 
is,  he  must  be  taught  to  read  as  his  first  and  most  important 
work  in  oj*der  that  he  may  be  able  to  take  advantage  of 
this  means  of  self- instruction.  It  prepares  him  to  use  the 
text-book,  which  certainly  has  a  place  in  the  school.  While 
it  is  true  that  the  old-time  servile  adherence  to  the  text- 
book on  the  part  of  the  teacher  is  not  to  be  countenanced, 
it  is  equally  true  that  it  cannot  be  abandoned.  It  would 
seem  folly  to  expect  the  average  teacher  to  be  capable  of 

*  "Philosophy  of  Education/'  p.  121. 


28o  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

planning  consecutive  work,  arranging  its  details,  and  pro- 
viding suitable  material  such  as  an  author  could  do  who 
has  devoted  many  years  to  this  work,  and  who  perhaps  has 
himself  taught  the  subject  many  times  and  is  therefore 
giving  the  results  of  rich  experience.  And  if  teachers  were 
capable  of  doing  this,  how  many  could  devote  the  neces- 
sary time  to  such  work  in  addition  to  the  burden  of  daily 
tasks?  And  that,  too,  for  each  of  the  many  subjects  they 
are  called  upon  to  teach. 

While  the  use  of  text-books  by  the  teacher  is  advocated, 
it  hardly  need  be  said  that  he  should  have  such  a  mastery 
of  the  subject-matter  and  the  method  as  to  be  free 
from  dependence  upon  the  book  during  the  process  of 
instruction.  The  text-book  should  be  a  guide  both  to 
teacher  and  pupils,  indicating  the  proper  subjects  to  be 
treated,  inviting  to  steady  and  systematic  progress,  and 
leading  to  perfect  unity  and  completeness. 

Text-books  should  be  clear  in  the  presentation  of  mate- 
rial, accurate  in  statement,  attractive  in  their  mechanical 
construction,  possess  suitable  and  artistic  illustrations,  be  full 
enough  to  meet  the  end  for  which  they  are  intended,  but 
not  too  full,  and  be  clothed  in  language  that  is  easily  com- 
prehended by  the  pupil.  It  is  no  credit  to  an  author  to 
present  his  material  in  obscure  and  unnecessarily  technical 
terms  under  the  mistaken  notion  of  profundity. 

Oral  Instruction.  —  The  third  means  of  instruction  is  the 
oral  or  lecture  method.  This  is  the  most  direct  and 
common  medium  of  conveying  knowledge.  "Since  speech 
is  the  natural  and  original  form  in  which  the  mind  mani- 
fests itself,  no  book  can  rival  it.     The  living  word  is  the 


THE  ACT   OF   LEARNING  28 1 

most  powerful  agent  of  instruction.  ...  In  two  cases 
especially  is  it  indispensable:  one  is  when  some  knowledge 
is  to  be  communicated  which  is  in  process  of  discovery 
and  as  yet  is  found  in  no  compendium;  and  the  other  when 
a  living  language  is  to  be  taught,  for  in  this  case  the  printed 
page  is  entirely  inadequate."  ^ 

With  young  children  the  catechetical  method  must 
chiefly  be  employed.  They  must  be  called  upon  to  answer 
specific  questions;  they  must  be  allowed  to  take  part  in  the 
exercise.  Only  by  sympathetic  and  mutual  participation 
in  the  work  by  teacher  and  pupil  can  the  best  results  be 
obtained.  With  adult  students  the  lecture  method  may 
be  adopted.  The  progress  is  more  rapid  and  the  students 
possess  the  power  of  continued  concentration  which  enables 
them  to  listen  with  profit  for  an  extended  period. 

Agencies  of  Instruction.  —  The  three  agencies  employed 
in  the  work  of  instruction  are  the  family,  the  tutor,  and  the 
school.  The  family,  which  has  the  child  exclusively 
during  the  earliest  years,  begins  his  educational  career  and 
prepares  the  way  for  later  progress.  We  have  seen 
(Chapter  XII)  that  owing  to  the  complexity  of  modem 
life  it  is  practically  impossible  for  the  family  to  continue 
and  complete  the  formal  education  of  the  child,  hence 
the  necessity  for  other  agencies. 

In  general,  two  courses  are  open  to  parents  when  the 
time  arrives  for  them  to  choose  the  manner  of  continuing 
the  education  of  their  children,  namely,  the  tutor  and  the 
school.  The  advantages  of  the  tutorial  plan  may  be 
stated  as  follows:  (i)  the  direct  and  personal  influence  of 
^  "  Rosenkranz,"  p.  124. 


282  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

the  teacher  may  be  most  powerful;  (2)  the  teaching  is 
individual  and  therefore  the  progress  may  be  measured 
entirely  by  the  ability  of  the  pupil;  (3)  personal  characteris- 
tics of  the  pupil  may  be  considered  and  met;  (4)  the 
method  employed  may  be  suited  to  the  individual.  The 
disadvantages,  on  the  other  hand,  may  be  noted  as  follows : 
(i)  there  is  danger  of  cultivating  a  spirit  of  selfishness  and 
egotism  on  the  part  of  the  pupil  inasmuch  as  he  is  the 
center  of  thought  and  effort;  (2)  there  is  lack  of  the  inspira- 
tion which  comes  from  measuring  his  strength  with  others 
of  the  same  age  and  ability  —  it  is  a  good  thing  for  a  boy 
to  meet  others  in  both  physical  and  intellectual  con- 
tests, even  if  he  sometimes  suffers  defeat,  for  that  is  what 
he  must  do  later  in  life;  (3)  there  is  danger  that  the  pupil 
may  depend  too  much  upon  his  teacher  and  therefore  fail 
to  gain  the  self-reliance  which  comes  from  exercising  one's 
powers  to  the  full  limit;  (4)  pupils  in  a  class  learn  from 
each  other  in  reciting  —  frequent  repetition,  struggle 
of  the  others  to  overcome  difficulties,  hearing  the  different 
presentations  of  the  teacher  in  order  to  make  the  lesson 
clear  to  all,  variety  of  discussions  both  by  teacher  and  pupils, 
use  of  language  suitable  to  the  intellectual  advancement  of 
the  whole  class  —  all  these  tend  to  fix  the  material  in  a 
way  that  is  impossible  when  the  pupil  is  taught  alone. 

The  third  agency  of  instruction,  and  the  one  that  reaches 
by  far  the  largest  proportion  of  the  youth,  is  the  school. 
We  have  already  shown  the  office  that  the  school  is  to  per- 
form (p.  180).  It  now  remains  to  consider  the  diiTerent 
kinds  of  schools  and  their  office.  The  generally  accepted 
nomenclature  of  schools  in  this  country  is  as  follows: 


THE  ACT   OF   LEARNING  283 

1.  The  elementary  school  —  which  takes  the  children  at 
five  or  six  and  continues  their  education  for  about  eight 
years.  The  work  that  should  be  demanded  of  this  school 
has  already  been  outlined  in  this  chapter. 

2.  The  secondary  school  —  which  receives  children  who 
have  completed  the  elementary  school  and  in  a  four  years' 
course  prepares  them  for  college,  or  some  other  institution 
of  learning,  or  for  business.  There  is  a  decided  move- 
ment towards  shortening  the  elementary  course  to  six  years 
and  making  the  secondary  course  two  years  longer,  that  is, 
six  years.  The  argument  for  this  change  may  be  briefly 
stated  as  follows:  (i)  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  pupils 
remain  in  school  only  till  about  their  twelfth  year  ;  there- 
fore a  course  should  be  arranged  that  would  be  approxi- 
mately complete  at  that  time.  (2)  This  is  the  beginning  of 
the  adolescent  period  when  great  physical  changes  take 
place  in  the  child,  and  therefore  a  decided  change  in  the 
method  of  instruction  and  the  material  offered  is  essential. 
(3)  Many  of  the  subjects  that  belong  peculiarly  to  the  sec- 
ondary school  require  more  than  four  years  for  their  com- 
pletion. Some  of  them  should  be  begun  earlier  than  is 
now  common,  especially  languages,  which  require  a  great 
deal  of  memoriter  work  in  learning  vocabularies,  accidents, 
and  rules.  The  memory  is  more  retentive  before  than  after 
the  fourteenth  year,  (See  p.  250.)  (4)  If  started  in 
the  high  school  course  at  twelve,  the  child  is  more 
likely  to  continue  longer  in  school  than  under  present 
conditions.  At  fourteen  he  is  restless,  eager  for  change, 
desirous  of  earning  money.  Hence  if  the  elementary  course 
closes  at  that  time,  and  a  new  epoch  confronts  him,  the 
chances  are  that  he  will  choose  to  leave  school,  if  allowed 


284  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

free  choice.  If,  however,  he  has  already  had  two  years  of  high 
school  work  and  has  become  interested  in  it,  and  not  being 
confronted  with  the  question  of  choice  at  the  more  critical 
period,  it  is  probable  that  he  will  continue  his  course. 
These  reasons  seem  strong  and  forcible  enough  to  warrant 
a  consideration  of  this  change,  a  scheme  that  corresponds 
with  that  outlined  by  Comenius  in  his  "Great  Didactic," 
and  that  is  in  vogue  in  European  schools,  as  well  as  in 
many  preparatory  schools  in  this  country. 

3.  The  undergraduate  school  or  college  —  which  admits 
students  from  the  preparatory  school  and  offers  them 
a  course  usually  four  years  in  extent,  culminating  in  a 
Bachelor^s  degree.  Some  institutions  make  it  possible  to 
shorten  this  course  to  three  years,  or  even  two,  thereby 
enabling  the  student  to  begin  his  professional  study  earlier. 

4.  The  graduate  school,  or  university  —  which  offers 
courses  in  law,  medicine,  philosophy,  etc.,  and  prepares 
the  student  for  the  learned  professions.  The  term  univer- 
sity is  lacking  in  well-defined  meaning  in  this  country,  many 
institutions  having  assumed  the  title  without  sufficient 
grounds.  President  Butler  offers  some  valuable  sugges- 
tions on  this  point  as  follows:*  "The  distinction  between 
the  function  of  the  college  and  that  of  the  university  which 
becomes  clearer  day  by  day  to  the  student  of  education, 
has  thus  far  proved  too  subtle  to  reach  the  imderstanding 
and  too  commonplace  to  satisfy  the  pride  of  the  American 
people;  for  the  existing  terminology  inextricably  confuses 
colleges  and  universities,  and  sometimes  even  institutions 
that  are  little  more  than  secondary  schools,  and  it  taxes 

*  "The  Meaning  of  Education,"  p.  125. 


THE  ACT  OF   LEARNING  285 

the  patience  and  skill  of  the  expert  to  disentangle  them.  If 
we  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  allowing  every  institution 
founded  for  any  form  or  phase  of  higher  education  to  clas- 
sify itself  by  the  name  that  it  assumes,  then  there  are  no 
fewer  than  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  universities  in  the 
United  States  ''  (1890).  Dr.  Butler  defines  a  university  as 
an  **  institution  where  students,  adequately  trained  by  previous 
study  of  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences,  are  led  into  special  fields 
of  learning  and  research  by  teachers  of  high  excellence  and 
originality;  and  where,  by  the  agency  of  libraries,  museums, 
laboratories,  and  publications,  knowledge  is  conserved, 
advanced,  and  disseminated." 

5.  Special  schools  would  include  all  those  that  fall  out- 
side of  the  foregoing  traditional  scheme.  The  variety  of 
these  schools,  together  with  those  already  described,  affords 
opportunity  for  youth  to  pursue  almost  any  educational 
aim  desired. 

Management  of  the  School.  —  The  external  management 
of  the  school  is  vested  in  the  board  of  education,  and  the 
internal  management  belongs  to  the  professional  expert, 
the  teacher.  It  is  the  office  of  the  school  board  to  furnish 
the  necessary  equipment  and  supplies,  to  appoint  teachers 
and  provide  for  their  support,  to  make  necessary  regula- 
tions for  the  control  of  the  school,  and  to  sustain  the 
teachers  in  the  enforcement  of  discipline  and  in  carrying 
out  the  work  of  the  school.  To  the  teachers  belong  the 
formulation  of  the  course  of  study  and  its  successful  enforce- 
ment, the  maintenance  of  disciphne,  the  duty  of  instruc- 
tion, and  the  direct  furtherance  of  the  educational  purpose. 
This  belongs  to  them  because  of  their  professional  training 


286  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

and  their  expert  knowledge.  The  function  of  the  school 
will  best  be  subserved  when  these  relations  between  school 
boards  and  teachers  are  understood,  and  when  they  respec- 
tively fulfil  the  duties  devolving  upon  them.  The  chief 
purpose  of  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  the  school, 
and  of  the  preparation  and  consecration  of  teachers,  is  that 
the  children  may  be  properly  instructed.  Around  this 
thought  should  center  all  the  efiFort  and  all  the  zeal  of  the 
school. 

Summary 

I.  The  principal  work  of  the  school  is  instruction.  The 
idea  of  instruction  presupposes  a  difference  between  teacher 
and  pupiL  The  purpose  of  instruction  is  to  cancel  that 
difference.  The  formal  education  of  a  large  part  of  the 
children  ceases  with  the  elementary  school.  Hence  it  is 
essential  that  the  stage  of  educational  apprenticeship  shall 
be  successfully  passed  during  this  period.  That  is,  the 
child  should  have  learned  how  to  direct  his  further  culture  in 
case  he  can  no  longer  attend  school. 

II.  The  skill  of  the  teacher  is  put  to  test  in  his  treatment 
of  children  of  different  capacities  —  the  dull,  the  mediocre, 
and  the  talented.  Patience,  wisdom,  and  pedagogical  knowl- 
edge are  necessary  in  order  that  he  may  bring  out  the  best 
there  is  in  each. 

III.  The  course  of  study  is  an  expression  of  the  accu- 
mulated wisdom  and  experience  of  educators  of  all  ages.  It 
is  a  systematic  plan  of  work,  which  must  include  such  sub- 
jects as  are  necessary  to  accomplish  the  purpose  it  sets  out  to 
attain.     These  subjects  must  be  so  arranged  as  to  be  sequen- 


THE  ACT   OF   LEARNING  287 

tial,  and  harmonious  in  their  relation  to  each  other.  There 
should  he  a  perfect  unity  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of 
the  course. 

IV.  The  daily  program  should  be  so  arranged  as  to  place 
the  subjects  requiring  closest  attention,  strictest  accuracy,  and 
greatest  use  of  the  memory  early  in  the  day.  Subjects  next 
in  difficulty  should  follow,  and  those  requiring  least  appli- 
cation should  be  placed  near  the  close  of  the  session. 

V.  We  learn  by  experience,  by  the  printed  page,  and 
through  oral  instruction.  Each  of  these  agencies  must  be 
utilized  in  the  work  of  education,  as  each  has  a  separate  office 
to  fulfil. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

WILL  TRAINING 

References. — Morgan,  Studies  in  Pedagogy;  Button,  Social 
Phases  of  Education  ;  Wiggin,  Children's  Rights  ;  Shearer,  Morals 
and  Manners  ;  White,  Elements  of  Pedagogy  ;  also,  School  Man- 
agement ;  Adler,  Moral  Instruction  of  Children  ;  Coler,  Character 
Building  ;  Forbush,  The  Boy  Problem  ;  Griggs,  Moral  Education  ; 
Mark,  Individuality  and  the  Moral  Aim  in  Education  ;  Baker, 
Education  and  Life ;  Smith,  Systematic  Methodology ;  Ogden, 
Science  of  Education. 

The  Will.  —  The  discussion  of  the  nature  of  the  will 
belongs  to  the  field  of  ethics  on  the  one  hand  and  psycho- 
logy on  the  other,  —  ethics  as  the  science  of  human  duty 
and  psychology  as  the  science  of  the  activities  of  the  mind. 
We  have  already  seen  that  the  science  of  education  is  based 
upon  both  ethics  and  psychology.  This  fact  must  be 
accepted  without  entering  into  consideration  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  ethics  or  the  laws  of  mental  development.  As 
pedagogy  seeks  to  make  apphcation  of  ethical  and  psycho- 
logical laws  to  education,  a  discussion  of  the  training  of  the 
will  is  peculiarly  fitting  in  a  treatise  on  pedagogy.     (See 

P-  3-) 

Will  may  be  defined  as  that  faculty  or  power  of  the  soul 
which  enables  it  to  choose,  determiney  and  direct  its  own 
actions.  The  child  does  not  possess  this  power  at  the 
beginning,  and  it  is  the  office  of  education  to  train  his  will 
so  that  he  may  control  his  appetites,  direct  his  activities, 
make  wise  choice  of  opportunity,  and  hold  himself  under 

288 


WILL   TRAINING  289 

constant  self-command.  **In  childhood,"  says  Smith/ 
**this  power  (of  the  will)  is  relatively  small  and  should  be 
exercised  for  only  a  brief  period  at  a  time;  most  of  the 
actions  are  then  impulsive,  or  at  least  non-voluntary.  It  is 
well  that  this  is  so,  for  a  strong  will  should  be  coupled  with 
a  strong  judgment.  This  latter  the  child  does  not  possess, 
and  he  must  therefore  submit  to  the  guidance  of  the  maturer 
judgments  of  others.  Having  the  faculty  of  self-direction 
in  but  a  small  degree,  he  is  more  easily  diverted,  and  thus 
managed  in  accordance  with  reason  at  a  time  when  it  would 
be  useless  to  attempt  to  reason  with  him.  But  as  reason 
develops  we  should  gradually  withdraw  from  him  the 
interference  of  outside  authority." 

Speaking  of  the  will,  Bittenger  says,^  ^'It  is  the  monarch 
of  the  mind,  ruling  with  despotic,  and  at  times  with  tyran- 
nical powers.  It  is  the  rudder  of  the  mind,  giving  direc- 
tion to  its  movements.  It  is  the  engineer  giving  course  and 
point,  speed  and  force,  to  the  mental  machinery.  It  acts 
like  a  tonic  among  the  souFs  languid  powers.  It  is  the  bond 
that  ties  into  a  strong  bundle  the  separate  faculties  of  the 
soul.  It  is  the  man's  momentum;  in  a  word,  it  is  that 
power  by  which  the  energy  or  energies  of  the  soul  are  con- 
centrated on  a  given  point  or  in  a  particular  direction; 
it  fuses  the  faculties  into  one  mass,  so  that  instead  of 
scattering  all  over  like  grape  and  canister,  they  spend  their 
united  force  on  one  point." 

The  will  is  susceptible  of  discipline,  and  educators  should 
give  far  more  attention  to  its  training  than  is  common.  We 
see,  hear,  taste,  feel,  imagine,  think,  remember,  act,  largely 

^  "Systematic  Methodology,"  p.  72. 

'  Quoted  from  Ogden,  "  Science  of  Education,"  p.  228. 


290  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

because  we  will  to  do  these  things.  "In  short,"  says 
Coler,  "it  is  the  will  that  has,  or  may  be  made  to  have  the 
controUing  influence  over  body,  over  intellect,  over  sen- 
sibility, and  over  conduct.''  We  may  then  turn  our  atten- 
tion to  the  means  of  securing  proper  will- training. 

I.  The  first  step  in  training  the  will  is  to  teach  absolute 
and  unquestioning  obedience  to  authority,  —  This  should 
begin  very  early,  as  soon  as  the  child  consciously  resists 
authority,  which  is  long  before  he  enters  school,  and  there- 
fore is  a  duty  devolving  upon  the  parents.  While  no 
specific  age  can  be  given  as  to  when  the  child  first  under- 
stands a  command,  no  intelligent  person  having  charge  of 
a  child  is  long  in  doubt  as  to  when  it  is  consciously  dis- 
obedient. (See  p.  149.)  It  may  be  remarked  that  the 
American  parent  is  averse  to  the  idea  of  "breaking  the 
will"  of  the  child,  having  the  false  notion  that  to  require 
him  to  submit  to  a  stronger  will  is  to  make  him  cowering 
and  weak,  —  in  a  word,  that  it  robs  him  of  spirit,  of  courage, 
of  that  independence  which  should  characterize  the  citizen 
of  a  republic.  Nothing  is  farther  from  the  truth,  either 
in  theory  or  practice.  Breaking  a  colt  to  harness,  if  prop- 
erly done,  does  not  spoil  him,  it  makes  him  of  value;  it 
certainly  does  not  destroy  his  ambition  or  take  away  liis 
spirit.  The  child  must  be  taught  to  submit  his  will  to  the 
guidance  of  others  who  possess  judgment  and  wisdom, 
until  he  is  capable  of  self- direction.  And  when  that  power 
is  gained  he  will  be  able  to  control  appetite,  govern  his 
temper,  make  the  right  choice,  and  act  up  to  his  con- 
victions when  a  choice  has  been  made.  Therefore  the 
bringing  of  the  child  to  submit  to  the  will  of  one  of  ripe 
judgment  and  wise  discretion  is  an  act  of  wisdom  of  great 


WILL   TRAINING  29 1 

pedagogical  and  ethical  significance.  The  parent  that  fails 
to  teach  this  lesson  fails  in  a  God-given  duty,  and  the  earlier 
it  is  taught  the  easier  it  will  be,  and  the  better  for  all  con- 
cerned. As  we  have  said,  the  lesson  of  obedience  should 
be  taught  as  soon  as  the  child  consciously  resists  authority, 
and  if  so  taught,  the  first  step  towards  a  proper  conception 
of  the  child's  relation  to  parents,  to  teachers,  and  to  the 
community  at  large  has  been  taken.  It  will  do  much 
towards  preparing  the  individual  for  that  respect  for  law 
and  authority  which  is  essential  to  good  citizenship  and  to 
a  maintenance  of  a  proper  relation  to  his  fellow-men. 

In  learning  to  obey  the  child  yields  his  will  to  superior 
wisdom  and  authority,  but  through  this  act  he  does  not 
surrender  his  freedom.  Freedom  has  been  defined  as, 
''That  condition  which  is  brought  about  by  an  implicit 
obedience  to  all  just  law.  Whether  the  law  is  moral,  natural, 
or  civil,  the  individual  is  free  within  each  domain,  only 
in  proportion  to  his  obedience  within  that  domain.  He 
may  be  a  free  man  in  the  civil  sense  and  be  in  moral  bond- 
age.''^ Thus  in  teaching  the  child  early  to  obey,  he  is  pre- 
pared for  freedom  in  its  widest,  truest,  and  best  sense. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  the  child's  will  is  trained  by 
teaching  him  to  conform  to  social  usages  and  customs,  — 
"The  pupil  must  become  civilized;  i,e.,  he  must  learn  to 
govern,  as  a  thing  external  to  him,  his  natural  egotism,  and 
to  make  the  forms  which  civilized  society  has  adopted  his 
own.''  Man  by  nature  is  a  social  being.  The  child  is 
born  into  family  life,  and  he  must  learn  to  conform  to  the 
requirements  of  the  home,  —  respect  for  and  obedience  to 

^  Smith,  '*  Systematic  Methodology/'  p.  75. 


292  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

his  parents,  acknowledgment  of  the  rights  of  brothers  and 
sisters,  proper  treatment  of  other  members  of  the  house- 
hold. The  training  in  social  usages  is  best  carried  out  in 
large  families  where  the  occasion  to  share  benefits  is  fre- 
quent and  where  unselfishness  is  engendered.  Where  there 
is  but  a  single  child  he  is  apt  to  be  egotistical  and  self- 
centered.  His  opportunities  to  learn  the  requirements  of 
society  are  fewer  because  of  the  limited  number  of  occasions 
to  practice  the  ordinary  virtues  of  social  contact.  We 
have  seen  that  the  family  first  of  all  must  inculcate  implicit 
obedience.  Although  this  duty  rests  upon  the  family,  its 
influence  extends  out  into  life,  —  to  the  school,  to  the  State, 
to  contact  with  men.  So,  too,  the  social  usages,  which 
are  adopted  first  for  the  maintenance  of  right  relations 
among  the  members  of  the  family,  should  be  those  that 
society  in  general  requires  in  order  that  the  child  may  be 
prepared  to  act  his  part  among  men  with  intelligence  and 
urbanity.  Rosenkranz  says,^  "The  family,  however,  edu- 
cates the  children,  not  for  itself  but  for  civil  society.  In 
the  latter  a  system  of  manners  and  customs  is  formed 
which  furnishes  a  social  formula  or  fixed  code  of  etiquette 
to  determine  the  behavior  of  the  individual  in  society. 
This  social  code  endeavors  to  subdue  the  natural  roughness 
of  man,  at  least  as  far  as  it  manifests  itself  externally." 

The  family  must  therefore  not  limit  its  instruction  in 
social  forms  to  its  own  requirements,  it  must  also  prepare 
the  child  to  conform  to  the  usages  of  the  world.  Only 
when  these  usages  are  consistently  and  systematically  prac- 
ticed in  the  home  may  we  expect  the  child  unconsciously 
and  habitually  to  practice  them  in  society.  And  this 
^  "Philosophy  of  Education/*  p.  145. 


WILL   TRAINING  293 

politeness  must  exist  in  spirit  as  well  as  in  form.  The 
spirit  of  politeness  is  unselfishness;  the  form  consists  in 
those  usages  or  acts  of  conduct  common  to  any  particular 
people  or  age.  The  spirit  of  politeness  is  a  universal  prin- 
ciple which  cannot  be  circumscribed  by  artificial  boundaries 
or  confined  to  any  age.  It  is  best  exemplified  by  conform- 
ity to  the  Golden  Rule  of  the  Great  Teacher.  The  forms 
of  politeness  may  vary  in  different  ages  or  in  different  lands. 
Thus  the  formal  etiquette  of  the  days  of  chivalry  is  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  present;  and  many  of  the  forms  of 
politeness  required  in  Japan  or  China  or  Germany  vary 
materially  from  those  of  America.  Although  the  spirit  of 
politeness  is  the  more  essential,  the  child  must  learn  to 
conform  to  the  usages  in  practice  in  the  country  in  which 
he  lives;  he  should  also  learn  that  in  visiting  other  countries 
good  breeding  requires  a  certain  conformity  to  their  usages. 
In  this  sense,  "when  one  is  in  Rome  one  must  do  as  the 
Romans  do.''  To  ignore  such  established  customs  and 
follow  one's  own  peculiar  ideas  of  etiquette  is  likely  to  bring 
odium  upon  the  individual  and  to  arouse  unfriendly  criti- 
cism. Henry  James  illustrates  this  in  his  story,  "Daisy 
Miller." 

Dr.  Harris  says:  "The  object  of  the  social  code  is  to 
subdue  the  natural  rudeness  that  belongs  to  man  as  a  mere 
animal,  and  thus  clothe  the  brutal  with  garb  of  unselfish 
forms.  The  essence  of  politeness  consists  in  treating 
others  as  if  they  were  perfectly  ideal  people.  The  polite 
person  utterly  ignores  all  rudeness  shown  him,  and  treats 
others  as  if  they  intended  the  same  politeness  toward  him. 
He  prefers  others  before  himself,  and  adopts  as  a  second 
nature  the  form  of  divine  charity  or  'altruism,'   which 


294  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

devotes  itself  to  the  good  of  others.  Politeness  is  only  the 
form  of  this  altruism;  morality  and  religion  are  the  sub- 
stance of  it.  Since  the  form  of  politeness  is  the  same  for 
all,  —  the  same  for  the  king  as  for  the  beggar  —  it  follows 
that  politeness  is  the  ceremonial  form  by  which  we  cele- 
brate the  equality  of  all  men  in  the  substance  of  their 
humanity.  *A11  are  equal  before  God,'  and  also  before 
the  ideal  of  politeness." 

This  training  in  social  usages,  then,  becomes  one  of  the 
most  essential  duties  of  the  home.  The  child  must  recognize 
that  he  owes  certain  duties  to  others  and  to  society.  In  this 
connection  a  caution  is  to  be  observed.  The  child  must  be 
taught  to  be  on  his  guard  against  the  insincerity  of  the 
world.  **We  must  teach  the  youth  that  he  may  be  imposed 
upon  by  cunning  dissimulation  and  hypocrisy,  and  there- 
fore he  must  not  give  his  confidence  lightly  and  credu- 
lously. He  must  learn  how  he  can,  without  using  deceit, 
gain  his  own  ends  in  the  midst  of  the  throng  of  opposing 
interests.''  The  child  that  is  brought  up  in  a  home  where 
there  is  mutual  confidence  between  its  members,  where 
there  is  an  atmosphere  of  truth  and  genuineness,  where 
love  controls  and  where  selfishness  has  no  place,  is  likely 
to  believe  in  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  Such  confidence  is 
beautiful,  but  unfortunately  the  child  must  be  prepared  to 
find  that  society  in  general  does  not  measure  up  to  this 
ideal.  ''This  duty  is  painful,  because  the  child  naturally 
feels  an  unlimited  confidence  in  all  men.  This  confidence 
must  be  modified  and  restricted  but  not  destroyed."  On 
the  other  hand,  while  the  individual  must  be  sufficiently 
guarded  against  the  insincerity  of  the  world,  he  must  not 
be  made  imduly  suspicious.     It  is  unfortunate  to  become 


WILL    TRAINING  ^95 

imbued  with  the  behef  that  most  men  are  dishonest  and 
that  in  every  transaction  there  is  danger  of  an  attempt  to 
cheat  on  the  part  of  some  one.  A  certain  amount  of  confi- 
dence in  the  integrity  of  mankind  is  necessary  for  business, 
for  social  intercourse,  and  for  peace  of  mind.  Therefore 
the  child  must  be  taught  that  although  he  may  not  expect 
the  same  generosity  and  disinterestedness  in  the  world 
that  he  has  been  accustomed  to  in  the  home,  yet  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  goodness  in  the  world,  and  a  great  many 
places  where  confidence  may  well  be  bestowed. 

There  is  a  certain  amount  of  danger  that  every  child  must 
encounter  when  he  goes  out  from  his  home.  No  parent 
will  voluntarily  thrust  a  child  into  temptation ;  and  yet  there 
are  temptations  that  must  be  met,  and  the  wise  parent 
will  allow  his  children  to  mingle  with  other  children, 
watching  over  and  safeguarding  them  in  every  possible 
way  until  they  become  strong  and  self-reliant.  The  public 
school  should  possess  so  high  a  moral  tone  that  it  will  be 
perfectly  safe  to  send  any  child  to  it.  When  this  is  the 
case  there  is  no  more  wholesome  or  more  suitable  place  for 
a  child  to  obtain  the  will-training  secured  through  acquain- 
tance with  and  participation  in  social  usages  and  customs. 

3.  The  child's  will  is  trained  through  the  formation  of 
habits,  —  Among  the  habits  that  have  a  direct  bearing  upon 
the  will  may  be  mentioned  the  habit  of  self-mastery,  self- 
control,  politeness,  obedience  to  duty,  respect  for  the  right 
of  others,  industry,  temperance.  Habit  is  formed  by  the 
repetition  of  an  act  until  it  becomes  unconscious  and 
almost  automatic.  We  have  shown  (p.  12)  that  the  chief 
end  of  education  is  to  form  good  character.  Character  has 
been  defined  as  "a  bundle  of  habits'';  therefore  in  training 


296  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

the  will  to  form  right  habits  the  highest  aim  of  education 
is  sought.  *'It  is  the  voluntary  or  will  element  in  human 
action  that  gives  it  moral  quality.  Moral  training  involves 
the  right  training  of  the  will,"  says  White.  Parents  should 
therefore  lead  their  children  to  repeat  voluntarily  such  acts 
as  will  tend  to  form  good  habits,  and  this  work  should  be 
definitely  and  systematically  continued  by  the  teacher. 
The  child  should  not  only  be  taught  the  difference  between 
right  and  wrong,  but  he  should  be  encouraged  to  choose  the 
right  repeatedly  until  the  principle  is  established  in  him. 
Through  his  own  voluntary  choice,  through  an  exercise  of 
the  will,  he  thus  builds  character. 

Obedience  to  Duty  is  one  of  the  most  essential  habits 
to  be  acquired.  Concerning  the  idea  of  duty,  Rosen- 
kranz  remarks,^  *^We  must  accustom  the  pupil  to  imcon- 
ditional  obedience  to  it,  so  that  he  shall  perform  it  for  no 
other  reason  than  that  it  is  duty.  The  performance  of  a 
duty  may  bring  with  it  externally  a  result  agreeable  or  dis- 
agreeable, useful  or  harmful;  but  the  consideration  of  such 
consequences  ought  never  to  determine  us.  This  moral 
demand,  though  it  may  appear  excessive  severity,  is  the 
absolute  foundation  of  all  genuine  ethical  practice." 

It  may  be  remarked  that  the  practice  of  hiring  a  child 
to  do  his  duty  is  pernicious  in  the  extreme.  It  teaches  him 
to  expect  a  reward  for  the  mere  doing  of  duty.  The  virtue 
of  the  performance  of  an  act  lies  in  the  willingness  to  do  it 
as  a  pure  act  of  duty.  To  pay  a  child  for  every  errand 
run,  to  secure  obedience  through  some  compensation, 
establishes  a  low  and  selfish  motive.     There  are  many 

*  "  Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  150. 


WILL   TRAINING  29^ 

duties  in  life  that  must  be  performed  without  hope  of  direct 
reward.  To  reduce  church,  temperance,  hospital,  and  other 
benevolent  work  to  the  basis  of  financial  reward  is  to  rob 
these  activities  of  their  altruistic  motive  and  minimize  the 
blessings  that  come  from  such  endeavor.  Therefore  the 
child  should  early  learn  to  perform  many  acts  freely  and 
without  expectation  of  pay;  and  by  proper  training  he  will 
learn  to  perform  them  willingly  and  cheerfully.  This 
training  will  be  a  good  preparation  for  activity  in  the  many 
fields  of  benevolent  and  gratuitous  service  which  are  always 
open  to  zealous  and  consecrated  men,  and  which  make  the 
world  better.  And  such  altruistic  spirit  will  harmonize 
with  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Word,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive.'' 

A  keen  sense  of  duty  will  also  have  a  great  influence  in 
solving  the  labor  problem.  It  will  require  employers 
equitably  to  share  the  profits  of  their  business  with  their 
employees  in  wages,  perquisites,  or  other  emoluments, 
after  a  fair  return  on  their  investment  is  assured.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  will  require  the  employees  to  further  the 
interests  of  their  employers  by  diligent  service,  by  zeal  and 
industry,  and  by  honestly,  faithfully,  and  intelligently  doing 
their  best  work.  There  should  be  greater  stress  laid  upon 
the  assumption  and  discharge  of  duty,  and  the  school  must 
take  its  share  of  this  responsibility. 

Emphasis  has  been  given  to  the  cultivation  of  a  sense  of 
duty;  it  is  not  to  be  inferred,  however,  that  other  virtues 
are  to  be  neglected.  Industry,  self-control,  temperance, 
honesty,  truthfulness,  and  all  the  other  virtues  must  be  taught. 
Dr.  Harris  well  remarks,  ''No  virtue  may  be  neglected  for 
another.     The  worst  results  follow  from  the  habit  of  pro- 


298  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

crastinating  the  performance  of  a  duty  or  the  indulgence 
of  a  weakness  until  a  fixed  day.  The  person  who  *  turns 
over  a  new  leaf  on  an  important  epoch  is  apt  to  turn  it 
back  again  soon  after.  The  will  must  not  be  trifled  with. 
Duty  must  be  obeyed  now.  To  permit  a  temporary  lapse 
from  virtue  occasionally  is  as  inadmissible  as  allowing 
one's  self  now  and  then  a  misstep  in  ascending  a  flight  of 
stairs.     Such  missteps  undo  the  whole  work.'' 

Each  of  the  virtues  should  receive  definite  attention  in 
early  childhood,  so  that  conformity  to  them  becomes  a 
habit.  The  will  is  the  most  important  agency  in  the  for- 
mation of  habit  and  in  the  establishment  of  character.  Hence 
attention  given  to  will-training  is  directly  in  harmony  with 
the  purpose  of  education  as  pointed  out  in  Chapter  II,  on 
the  Aim  of  Education. 

4.  The  ultimate  end  of  will- training  is  reached  when  the 
individual  is  capable  of  governing  himself,  —  The  child 
must  be  guided  in  his  earlier  years  by  a  will  stronger  than 
his  own;  but  the  end  to  be  sought  is  to  bring  him  to  be 
able  safely  to  direct  his  own  life.  He  must  be  exercised 
in  the  art  of  self-government  until  he  is  capable  of  acting 
wisely  and  independently.  This  training  should  accustom 
him  to  freedom  in  its  truest  sense.  He  will  learn  that  in 
the  society  of  men,  absolute  freedom  is  impossible,  that 
the  rights  of  others  must  be  considered.  To  illustrate  this 
point:  A  family  were  in  the  habit  of  drumming  on  the 
piano  at  all  times  of  the  day  and  night,  much  to  the  annoy- 
ance of  their  neighbors  on  the  other  side  of  the  thin  parti- 
tion wall.  On  one  occasion  when  their  neighbor  was  ill, 
and  after  the  noise  had  continued  till  midnight,  a  request 
came  politely  asking  for  a  cessation  of  the  nuisance.     The 


WILL    TRAINING  299 

reply  was,  "This  is  a  free  country  and  we  will  do  as  we 
please,"  and  they  continued  to  play.  They  forgot  that 
it  is  a  free  country  for  the  people  on  the  other  side  of  the 
wall  also,  and  that  they  had  no  right  to  trespass  on  their 
rights.  This  false  conception  of  freedom  is  much  too 
common,  and  our  schools  should  teach  that  true  freedom 
takes  into  account  the  rights  of  other  men.  "Education,'^ 
says  Rosenkranz,  "aims  at  accustoming  the  youth  to  free- 
dom, so  that  he  shall  always  measure  his  deed  by  the  idea 
of  the  good.  .  .  .  The  pedagogical  maxim  is,  then:  Be 
independent,  but  be  so  through  doing  good.'' 

This  conception  of  freedom  is  doubly  essential  in  a 
country  that  boasts  of  its  liberty,  a  country  in  which 
the  people  are  rulers.  As  an  outgrowth  of  the  false  idea 
that  every  man  is  free  to  do  as  he  pleases  regardless  of 
others,  we  have  bosses,  ring  government,  and  grafting  in 
politics;  heartless  corporations  that  stifle  competition  and 
drive  to  the  wall  small  concerns  that  stand  in  their  way; 
greed  and  selfishness  on  the  part  of  capitalists  on  the  one 
hand,  and  arrogance  and  tyranny  on  the  part  of  the  unions, 
which  compel  men  to  join  their  ranks  or  starve,  on  the 
other  hand.  As  a  result  we  have  increase  in  peculation 
and  crime  that  is  already  appalling.  Perhaps  the  gravest 
of  these  tendencies  is  the  attitude  of  trade  unions  which 
do  not  permit  a  man  to  dispose  of  his  labor  to  whom 
he  will  and  under  such  terms  as  he  pleases.  A  very 
vital  principle  of  freedom  is  attacked  if  this  claim  of 
the  unions  is  allowed.  A  man  should  be  free  to  join  a 
labor  organization  if  he  will,  and  he  has  a  right  to  decline 
to  work  under  conditions  that  are  unacceptable  to  him; 
but  his  neighbor  is  equally  free  to  withhold  his  aUiance 


300  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

with  the  union  and  to  work  if  the  terms  satisfy  him.  In 
a  word,  I  may  work  or  not  as  I  please,  but  I  am  not  free 
to  prevent  my  neighbor  from  working  even  if  he  chooses 
to  do  so  upon  terms  unacceptable  to  me.  The  govern- 
ment that  cannot  protect  me  in  that  right,  that  cannot 
enforce  this  idea  of  freedom,  is  weak  and  incapable  of 
protecting  its  citizens,  and  therefore  does  not  deserve  to 
exist.  A  free  government  must  guarantee  to  all  its  citi- 
zens equal  rights  and  privileges  before  the  law. 

Under  a  free  government  this  high  conception  of  educa- 
tion, namely,  that  which  ^*  accustoms  the  youth  to  freedom," 
can  best  be  reached.  Absolute  forms  of  government 
must  necessarily  restrict  the  individual  and  give  him  false 
ideas  of  freedom,  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
State  also  as  a  protecting,  controlling,  and  governing  body 
is  a  factor  in  education.  (See  p.  191.)  Under  absolute 
forms  of  government  education  in  the  highest  sense,  that 
is,  education  that  sets  free,  that  makes  the  individual 
capable  of  governing  himself,  can  never  be  attained. 

The  home,  as  it  offers  wider  opportunities  to  the  child 
to  control  his  own  actions,  should  train  him  to  freedom. 
The  school,  which  seeks  through  its  discipline  to  lead  the 
child  to  act,  not  under  the  watchful  eye  of  the  teacher 
to  follow  mere  rules  and  commands,  but  from  inner  impulse 
and  from  high  personal  ideals  and  from  a  sense  of  individ- 
ual responsibility,  —  such  a  school  is  in  the  highest  sense 
training  the  will,  and  preparing  the  child  to  be  self-govern- 
ing. Placing  the  child  on  his  honor  ^  in  school  prepares 
him  to  exercise  freedom  of  choice,  to  act  from  his  own 

^  See  p.  74  of  my  "  School  Management "  for  a  full  discussion  of  the 
principle. 


WILL  TRAINING  3OI 

sense  of  right  rather  than  blindly  to  follow  a  rule  that  the 
teacher  has  promulgated  for  his  observance.  In  every  case 
he  decides  his  action  upon  the  principle  of  right  and  wrong 
rather  than  upon  that  of  keeping  a  rule  in  order  to  escape 
its  penalties.  He  is  constantly  exercising  his  own  will 
instead  of  subordinating  himself  to  the  will  of  another. 
He  thus,  guided  by  his  teacher  to  a  discriminating  sense 
of  ethical  action,  becomes  a  law  unto  himself,  establishing 
a  principle  which  he  must  follow  later  in  life  when  no 
longer  under  the  guidance  of  a  teacher.  This  should 
lead  to  good  citizenship  in  a  country  where  he  is  called 
upon  to  exercise  his  freedom  as  a  patriot,  as  a  member  of 
the  body  politic,  and  of  society.  Hence  the  right  kind  of 
discipline  in  school  becomes  as  truly  an  essential  element 
in  preparing  the  child  for  self-government  as  the  material 
of  the  curriculum  does. 

5.  The  result  attained  will  he  manifest  in  good  character. 
It  has  been  pointed  out  in  former  pages  of  this  book  that 
the  supreme  purpose  of  education  is  the  formation  of 
character.  This  is  no  new  proposition,  character-build- 
ing having  always  been  the  end  sought  by  educators, 
even  though  this  doctrine  had  not  been  specifically  for- 
mulated, and  was  not  definitely  fixed  in  the  consciousness 
of  the  instructor.  The  Herbartian  School  of  pedagogy 
lays  great  stress  upon  character- building  as  the  central 
thought  of  school  work;  they  also  teach  that  character  is 
nothing  less  than  a  rightly  trained  will.  We  have  seen 
that  the  formation  of  habits  is  a  will  process.  If  most  of 
the  habits  are  good  we  say  the  character  is  good,  and  if 
most  of  the  habits  are  bad  the  character  is  bad.  Hence 
the  great  work  of  education  is  to  lead  the  pupil  volun- 


302  ELEMENTARY    PEDAGOGY 

tarily  to  adopt  good  habits  and  to  establish  them  through 
repeated  virtuous  acts  and  right  living.  If  education  fails 
to  form  good  habits  it  increases  the  power  to  do  evil 
because  it  equips  the  individual  to  be  the  more  acute  in 
roguery.  Education  that  fails  in  fixing  a  moral  basis 
thus  makes  the  man  the  more  dangerous  to  society. 

Finally,  "the  consideration  of  the  culture  of  character 
leads  to  the  subject  of  conscience/'  says  Rosenkranz. 
Dr.  Harris  defines  conscience  as  '^  the  criticism  which 
the  ideal  self  makes  on  the  realized  selfy  This  definition  will 
stand  the  test  of  scrutiny.  Every  man  possesses  certain 
ideals.  These  ideals  may  be  high  or  low  according  to  the 
teaching  he  has  received  and  the  environment  in  which  he 
lives.  His  conscience  will  trouble  him  only  when  he  fails 
to  reach  his  own  ideals.  A  boy  is  brought  up  in  the  slums, 
surrounded  by  thieves,  accustomed  to  profanity  and  intem- 
perance, being  perhaps  himself  sent  out  to  steal,  and  pun- 
ished or  rewarded  according  to  the  success  he  has  met 
with.  His  conscience  will  trouble  him  but  little  when  he 
perpetrates  a  crime,  because  he  has  not  violated  his  ideals. 
Another  boy,  brought  up  in  a  pure  home,  acquainted  with 
the  laws  of  God  and  man,  nurtured  in  an  atmosphere  of 
ethical  and  Christian  practice,  will  surely  have  higher  ideals 
and  therefore  his  conscience  will  hold  him  to  a  strict  account 
concerning  acts  in  which  the  other  boy  would  not  be  dis- 
turbed in  the  least.  A  Hindu  mother  performs  a  religious 
act  when  she  casts  her  child  into  the  Ganges  and  satisfies 
her  conscience  by  a  deed  which  to  a  Christian  mother 
would  be  murder  and  which  could  not  fail  to  cause  terrible 
remorse.  The  one  loves  her  baby  as  truly  as  the  other, 
but  the  difference  in  their  feelings  lies  in  the  ideals  which 


WILL    TRAINING  303 

each  possesses.     It  therefore  is  incumbent  upon  education 
o  Jmplant  correct  ideals  as  well  as  to  train  the  pupil  to 
live  up  to  the  ideals  he  has. 

Moral  Training  in  the  School.  —  Inasmuch  as  the  moral 
side  of  education  has  so  direct  a  bearing  upon  will-train- 
ing, as  well  as  upon  the  practical  things  of  life,  we  may 
well  inquire  what  is  the  office  of  the  school  in  this  work? 
Mos  American  educators  seem  to  be  averse  to  formal 
lessons  in  morals,  although  Germany,  France,  England, 
and  other  countries  have  adopted  such  courses  with  excel- 
lent results  In  a  few  schools  in  this  country  such  instruc- 
tion has  been  introduced  also  with  satisfactory  results. 
White  very  truly  remarks,^  *'  Effective  moral  training  involves 
the  discipline  of  the  will  to  act  habitually  in  view  of  those 
motives  which  elease  the  soul  from  bondage  to  low  and  self- 
ish desires,  and  make  the  conscience  regal  in  life."  Super- 
intendent Carr,  who  has  had  a  definite  course  in  morals  in 
his  schools  for  some  years,  says:  '* The  moral  instruction  of 
children  is  the  highest  duty  imposed  upon  teachers.  Many 
children  receive  little  moral  training  at  home;  they  attend 
neither  church  nor  Sunday  school;  therefore,  if  they  receive 
moral  instruction  at  all,  it  must  be  in  the  public  schools. 
So  whatever  other  work  of  this  course  is  slighted,  the  part  , 
pertaining    to    moral   instruction    should    be    carried   out. 

^'The  aim  of  moral  instruction  is  to  teach  the  child  to 
know,  to  love,  and  to  do  right.  It  therefore  appeals  to 
the  intellect,  the  sensibilities,  and  the  will.  While  all 
children  have  a  moral  conscience,  yet  what  is  right  and 
what  is  wrong  must  be  taught  to  them  the  same  as  other 

*  "Elements  of  Pedagogy,"  p.  314. 


304  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

facts.  The  moral  judgment  must  be  developed.  This 
culture  of  the  moral  understanding  should  be  accompanied 
by  a  heart  culture  that  causes  the  child  to  love  the  good. 
The  moral  sensibilities  need  cultivation  as  well  as  the 
moral  intellect.  But  the  final  outgrowth  of  the  moral 
training  is  upright  conduct,  and  unless  this  result  is  attained 
the  training  goes  for  naught.  The  child  should  be  taught 
to  be  industrious,  honest,  truthful,  obedient,  patriotic,  and 
reverential.  His  moral  acts  should  be  repeated  until  they 
become  habits." 

The  teaching  of  morals  in  the  school  should  be  syste- 
matic even  though  no  fixed  place  be  given  to  it  in  the  daily 
program.  The  teacher  should  have  a  plan  in  mind  that 
will  insure  methodical  instruction  in  each  of  the  virtues.^ 
In  carrying  out  such  a  plan  he  will  utilize  daily  incidents 
gathered  in  the  school  and  out  of  it  and  will  take  into 
account  the  home  life  and  environment  of  his  pupils.  He 
will  not  neglect  the  physical  condition  of  the  children, 
which  may  have  an  important  bearing  upon  their  moral 
conduct.  He  will  remember  that  suitable  employment  is 
an  excellent  safeguard  against  mischief.  By  suitable  and 
artistic  schoolroom  decorations,  and  by  attractive  environ- 
ments, not  only  aesthetic  but  also  ethical  feelings  will  be 
inspired.  From  the  lives  of  great  men  and  from  the 
pages  of  history  abundant  illustrative  examples  of  noble 
living  will  be  found.  Literature,  especially  the  Bible,  will 
contribute  suitable  material  for  illustration  and  instruction 
concerning  each  of  the  virtues.  Besides  these  things  the 
teacher  will  be  able  to  inculcate  moral  ideals  and  habits  by 

For  treatment  of  the  teaching  of  school  morals,  see  Chapter  XI  in  my 
"  School  Management." 


WILL   TRAINING  3O5 

means  of  the  school  discipline,  by  the  intermingling  of 
pupils,  by  the  maintenance  of  the  rights  of  the  respective 
children,  by  supervision  of  the  recreation  hours,  as  well  as 
through  the  formal  studies  of  the  curriculum. 

Above  all  and  most  essential  of  all  is  the  personal  charac- 
ter of  the  teacher,  which  is  the  most  potent  and  effective 
moral  influence  in  connection  with  the  lives  of  school 
children. 

Summary 

I.  Will  is  the  faculty  or  power  of  the  soul  which  enables 
it  to  choose,  determine,  and  direct  its  own  actions.  It  is  the 
office  of  education  so  to  train  the  will  of  the  child  that  he  will 
be  able  to  maintain  self-command.  The  will  should  have 
the  controlling  influence  over  body,  intellect,  sensibility,  and 
conduct, 

II,  Obedience  to  authority  is  the  first  step  to  be  learned 
in  will-training.  In  appropriating  this  lesson  the  child 
does  not  surrender  his  true  freedom,  which  may  be  defined 
as  the  state  or  condition  acquired  through  obedience  to  just 
and  wholesome  laws, 

III,  The  second  step  in  will-training  involves  a  con- 
formity to  social  usages  and  customs,  Man  is  a  social 
being  and  he  must  acquiesce  in  the  laws  of  social  order.  The 
earlier  he  begins  to  comprehend  this  fact  the  better.  The 
essence  of  politeness  is  unselfishness.  Not  only  must  there 
be  the  spirit  of  politeness  but  also  a  conformity  to  its  forms, 

IV.  Again,  the  will  is  trained  through  the  exercise  of 
choice.     Frequent  exercise  of  the  will  in  the  same  way  re- 


306  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

suits  in  habit.     Obedience  to  duty  should  be  inculcated  as  a 
principle  of  life. 

V.  The  end  to  be  sought  in  will-training  is  the  power  of 
self-government.  This  requires  consideration  of  the  rights 
of  others  as  well  as  assertion  of  one^s  own  rights.  Educa- 
tion must  "  accustom  the  youth  to  freedom.^^  That  educa- 
tion which  emancipates  man  should  be  attained  best  under  a 
free  government. 

VI.  The  right  training  of  the  will  should  result  in  good 
character,  the  culture  of  which  leads  to  the  subject  of  con- 
science. Conscience  may  be  defined  as  ''  the  criticism  which 
the  ideal  self  makes  on  the  realized  self^ 


CHAPTER    XVIII 
RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

References.  —  Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals;  Durelly 
A  New  Life  in  Education;  Crooker,  Religious  Freedom  in  Ameri- 
can Education;  White,  Elements  of  Pedagogy;  Forbushj  The  Boy- 
Problem;  Payne,  Education  of  Teachers;  Century  Magazine,  May, 
1900;  Educational  Review,  February,  1897;  also  October,  1903; 
N.  E.  A.  Minutes  of  1902  and  1903;  Proceedings  of  the  Religious 
Education  Association;  King,  Personal  and  Ideal  Elements  in 
Education;  Griggs,  Moral  Education;  Tompkins,  The  Philosophy 
of  Teaching;  Spalding,  Thought  and  Theories  of  Life  and  Educa- 
tion; Sterrett,  The  Freedom  of  Authority  ;  Wishart,  Primary  Facts 
in  Religious  Thought. 

Religion  a  Universal  Principle.  —  The  religious  instinct 
is  innate  with  every  human  being.  No  race  or  tribe  of 
people  has  been  discovered  that  does  not  possess  in  the 
development  of  this  inborn  capacity  some  form  of  belief 
and  worship.  It  may  be  the  crudest  fetich,  the  most 
debasing  form  of  idolatry,  the  subtlest  philosophy  of 
paganism,  or  the  highest  and  noblest  form  of  Christianity. 
It  is  the  cry  of  the  soul  to  some  power  or  some  influence 
believed  to  possess  the  ability  to  aid  in  the  hour  of  distress, 
to  comfort  in  sorrow,  or  to  avert  evil.  *'  Man  has  a  religious 
nature,"  says  Coe.^  "The  definite  establishment  of  this 
proposition  is  perhaps  the  greatest  service  that  the  history 
and  psychology  of  religion  have  performed.  Not  very  long 
ago  men  were  still  asking  whether  religion  might  not  have 

^  "  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,"  p.  57. 
307 


308  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

arisen  through  priestcraft  or  statecraft,  or  at  least  through 
some  incidental  feature  of  human  experience.  Religion 
was  looked  upon  as  a  theory  or  belief  which  men  had 
formed  for  themselves  somewhat  as  we  form  our  hypotheses 
of  inhabitants  in  other  planets.  Some  tribes  were  said  to 
be  entirely  without  religion,  and  hence  it  was  inferred  that 
religion  does  not  belong  to  humanity  as  such.  But  the 
^  tribe  destitute  of  religion '  is  found  to  be  purely  imagin- 
ary, and  the  history  of  religion  begins  its  recital  with  the 
affirmation  that  man  as  such  has  a  religious  impulse  out 
of  which  have  sprung  all  the  religions  of  the  world." 

Recognizing  the  truth  set  forth  in  the  foregoing  state- 
ments, the  educational  systems  of  many  countries  provide 
religious  instruction  as  a  part  of  the  regular  school  work, 
and  outline  a  complete  course  in  religion.  This  is  possible 
in  countries  where  there  is  a  state  religion  or  where  there 
is  a  limited  number  of  religious  confessions.  It  would  be 
impossible  in  this  country  where  Church  and  State  are 
separate  and  where  there  are  so  many  religious  sects,  —  at 
least  it  would  be  impossible  to  enter  into  the  discussion  of 
religious  dogmas  in  the  public  school.  But  it  may  be 
mentioned  again,  that  the  duty  of  education  is  not  limited 
to  the  public  school,  —  the  school  being  only  one  factor 
in  this  work.  (See  Chap.  XII.)  It  must  also  be  remem- 
bered that  the  term  education  has  a  broader  significance, 
than  the  term  instruction.  American  educators  with 
considerable  unanimity  recognize  the  need  of  religious 
education.  This  is  evidenced  by  the  numerous  articles 
on  the  subject  that  have  appeared  in  educational  journals, 
popular  magazines,  and  other  periodicals;  in  discussions 
that  have  taken  place  in  teachers'  gatherings;  in  the  organ- 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  309 

ization  of  the  Religious  Education  Association,  and  by  the 
growing  interest  in  the  question  everywhere  felt. 

Dissatisfaction  Manifest.  —  In  an  address  before  the 
National  Educational  Association  at  Minneapolis,  in  1902, 
Dr.  Nicholas  Murray  Butler  remarked  as  follows:  "I  want 
to  call  attention  to  a  phenomenon  which  is  so  universal  that 
we  do  not  notice  it,  —  paradoxical  though  that  sounds  —  but 
which,  if  it  is  permitted  to  continue,  will  one  day  produce 
startling  results  in  our  life  and  civilization.  I  refer  to  the 
facts  that  owing  to  a  series  of  causes,  operating  over  a  con- 
siderable period  of  years,  knowledge  of  the  English  Bible  is 
passing  out  of  the  life  of  the  rising  generation,  and  that 
with  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible  there  is  fast  disappearing 
any  acquaintance  with  the  religious  element  which  has 
shaped  our  civilization  from  the  beginning." 

This  sentiment  voiced  the  opinion  of  that  great  body  of 
educators  as  shown  later  by  the  adoption  of  the  following 
from  the  report  of  the  committee  on  resolutions:  ^^It  is 
apparent  that  familiarity  with  the  EngUsh  Bible  as  a 
masterpiece  of  literature  is  rapidly  decreasing  among  the 
pupils  of  our  schools.  This  is  the  direct  result  of  a  concep- 
tion which  regards  the  Bible  as  a  theological  book  merely, 
and  thereby  leads  to  its  exclusion  from  the  schools  of  some 
States  as  a  subject  of  reading  and  study.  We  hope  for 
such  a  change  of  public  sentiment  in  this  regard  as  will 
permit  and  encourage  the  reading  and  study  of  the  English 
Bible,  as  a  literary  work  of  the  highest  and  purest  type, 
side  by  side  with  the  poetry  and  prose  which  it  has  inspired 
and  in  a  large  measure  formed.  We  do  not  urge  this  in 
the  interest  of  sectarian  instruction  of  any  kind,  but  that 


310  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

this  great  book  may  ever  be  the  teacher's  aid  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  history  and  literature,  law  and  life  —  an  unrivaled 
agency  in  the  development  of  true  citizenship  as  well  as  in 
the  formation  of  pure  literary  style."  This  was  adopted 
"without  dissent"  as  one  of  the  declarations  of  principles 
of  the  Association.  While  this  expression  may  not  be  inter- 
preted as  a  demand  for  positive  religious  instruction  in  the 
schools,  it  indicates  a  dissatisfaction  with  what  is  being 
done  at  present,  and  it  will  have  a  tendency  to  arouse 
further  interest  in  this  important  matter. 

Education  that  Omits  Religion  is  Incomplete.  —  Rosen- 
kranz  summarizes  this  thought  in  the  words,^  ''Education 
must,  therefore,  accustom  the  youth  to  the  idea  that,  in 
doing  the  good,  he  unites  himself  with  God  as  with  the 
absolute  Person,  but  that  in  doing  evil  he  separates  him- 
self from  Him.  The  consciousness  that  through  his  deed 
he  comes  into  relation  with  God  himself,  aflSrmatively  or 
negatively,  deepens  the  moral  standpoint  with  its  formal 
obedience  to  the  commands  of  virtue,  to  the  standpoint  of 
the  heart  that  finds  its  all-sufficient  principle  in  love." 
The  philosophy  of  education  as  worked  out  by  Rosen- 
kranz  reaches  its  logical  conclusion  and  completeness  in 
the  religious  ideal. 

Arnold  Tompkins  says,^  ''Education  and  religion  must, 
have  some  common,  vital  principle,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
they  have  been  set  over  against  each  other  as  if  they  belonged 
to  different  categories,  if  not  antagonistic.  This  sharp 
line  of  distinction  often  blinds  to  the  best  truth  in  both, 
leaving   education   without   purity,    holiness,    faith,    noble 

*  "  Philosophy  of  Education,"  p.  159.     '  "Philosophy  of  Teaching,"  p.  271. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  3II 

purpose,  a  striving  for  perfect  knowledge  and  harmony 
with  God  —  with  nothing  but  the  sharp  intellect  either 
with  or  without  character;  and  religion  without  beauty, 
fullness  and  vigor  of  life,  large-mindedness,  generous  man- 
hood —  with  nothing  but  dogma  and  creed  and  formal 
piety.  We  hear  that  education  is  a  doubtful  factor,  having 
to  do  with  the  intellect,  and  giving  reckless  power  unless 
restrained  by  the  religious  heart;  that  it  is  an  affair  of  this 
world  to  satisfy  hunger  and  pride,  while  religion  is  for 
eternity,  satisfying  and  saving  the  soul. 

"Religion  is  not  a  branch,  a  department,  or  anything 
that  can  be  added  to  education;  but  rather  vitalized, 
purified,  and  quickened  blood.  It  is  the  attachment  and 
devotion  of  every  faculty  of  the  soul  to  truth,  beauty,  and 
virtue.  It  includes  man's  whole  being,  —  his  tone  and 
temper  of  life,  purity  of  heart;  his  striving  to  know  and  feel 
the  true,  the  permanent,  the  external  source  of  all  things; 
his  tendency  of  life  upward  toward  truth  and  God.  What- 
ever else  you  may  desire  to  include,  so  much  are  essential 
elements.  Neither  is  education  a  branch,  a  department, 
or  anything  that  can  be  added  to  religion.  Education  is 
to  fix  the  tendency  of  life  upward;  to  stimulate  a  striving 
for  perfection  of  character;  to  enlighten  and  strengthen  the 
native  tendencies  of  the  soul;  to  intensify  and  purify, 
broaden  and  deepen,  refine  and  enrich  life  by  all  things 
true,  beautiful,  and  good;  and  to  establish  the  current  of 
being  in  the  safe  channel  of  spiritual  activity.  Education 
is  not  power  unqualified,  but  power  regulated  and  directed 
to  righteous  ends.  The  work  of  education  is  fatally  defec- 
tive which  gives  faculties  power  without  the  power  of  right 
direction,  strength  of  life  without  right  tendency  of  life." 


312  Elementary  pedagogy 

What  Religious  Education  Embraces.  —  It  may  be  diffi- 
cult to  outline  the  religious  knowledge  that  is  essential  to  a 
well-developed  educational  equipment.  In  discussing  this 
question  it  must  be  reiterated  that  we  are  not  thinking  of 
the  work  of  the  school,  or  the  teacher,  or  the  home,  or  any 
other  single  agency.  We  have  shown  that  the  religious 
impulse  is  universal,  affecting  all  mankind ;  that  it  is  a  part 
of  the  education  of  every  intelligent,  self-conscious  being, 
and  that  no  life  is  complete  without  it.  The  consideration 
of  it,  then,  logically  follows  as  a  part  of  educational  philoso- 
phy. No  theory  of  education  is  adequate  that  ignores  it. 
That  religion  is  a  factor  of  civilization  is  too  self-evident  to 
require  discussion.  That  it  wonderfully  affects  all  human 
action  and  influences  individuals  is  also  unquestioned. 
We  may  then  ask.  What  religious  knowledge  is  essential  to 
a  harmonious  development,  and  what  are  the  lessons  in  the 
sphere  of  religious  thought  and  activity  that  every  individual 
should  learn?  The  following  are  the  most  essential  of 
these  lessons : 

I.  Reverence.  —  Every  child  should  learn  to  be  reverent. 
Respect  for  the  name  of  God,  His  house.  His  consecrated 
servants,  His  Word,  and  His  works  should  be  implanted  in 
every  life.  There  is  far  too  much  flippancy  with  regard  to 
sacred  things.  In  the  home,  in  the  school,  everywhere,  a 
spirit  of  reverence  for  those  things  that  pertain  to  religion 
should  always  be  inculcated.  Surely  no  parent,  whatever 
his  creed,  would  object  to  this  spirit  being  implanted  and 
fostered  in  his  children,  even  in  the  secular  school.  The 
rather,  would  not  parents  justly  condemn  the  school  that 
fails  in  this  particular  or  that  neglects  this  essential? 

Good  breeding  requires  that  one  shall  be  reverent  and 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  313 

respectful  towards  all  things  of  a  truly  religious  character, 
and  the  teaching  of  reverence  need  in  no  sense  partake  of 
the  nature  of  a  theological  creed.  Everyintelligent,  self- 
respecting,  cultured  person  respects  true  religion,  even  if 
he  makes  no  pretension  to  personal  faith.  It  is  a  part  of 
his  education  and  every  man  owes  it  to  himself  to  possess 
and  maintain  a  reverent  attitude. 

It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that  the  character  of  the 
teacher  is  the  most  vital  and  powerful  agency  in  molding 
the  lives  of  his  pupils.  The  teacher  therefore  must  be 
reverent  in  spirit  as  well  as  consistent  in  life. 

2.  Knowledge  of  the  Bible.  —  Familiarity  with  the 
Scriptures  is  essential  in  every  walk  in  life  in  order  to 
grasp  the  meaning  of  literature,  art,  science,  and  all  the 
other  evidences  of  civilization.  *^To  appreciate  the  litera- 
ture, sculpture,  painting,  action,  and  indeed,  all  expres- 
sions of  life  during  these  Christian  centuries,  a  knowledge 
of  the  basal  sources  of  the  Christian  religion  is  essential. 
Consider,  for  instance,  how  necessary  a  knowledge  of  the 
Bible  is  to  the  appreciation  of  half  the  paintings  in  any 
European  gallery.  As  the  Bible  is  the  great  text-book  of 
Christianity,  so  it  is  a  source  from  which  much  of  our  civi- 
lization can  be  explained.  The  study  of  the  history  and 
sources  of  religion,  prevalent  in  the  society  about  the  indi- 
vidual should  have,  therefore,  an  important  place  in  the 
work  we  do  in  the  history  of  culture."^ 

There  should  be  freedom,  therefore,  to  use  the  Bible  in 
the  school,  not  only  for  the  devotional  exercises,  but  also 
for  a  study  of  its  historical  data,  its  literature,  and  its  moral 

*  Griggs,  "  Moral  Education,"  p.  281. 


314  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

teachings,  as  demanded  by  the  great  body  of  teachers  of  the 
National  Educational  Association  in  their  declaration  of 
principles  cited  earher  in  this  chapter.  Many  of  its  stories, 
especially  of  the  Old  Testament,  are  peculiarly  suited  to 
the  needs  of  young  children. 

This  can  be  done  without  arousing  sectarian  prejudice, 
or  awakening  religious  animosity.  It  is  being  done  all 
over  the  land  by  thousands  of  teachers  and  to  the  imiversal 
satisfaction  of  parents  of  all  shades  of  belief.  Unfortunately 
it  is  being  neglected  in  the  very  place  where  most  attention 
should  be  given  to  it,  namely,  the  home.  Numerous 
investigations  recently  made  prove  that  there  is  a  woful 
ignorance  of  the  Bible  among  all  classes  of  people,  not 
excepting  even  people  of  culture  and  members  of  Christian 
churches.  This  is  certainly  retrogression  from  an  educa- 
cational,  to  say  nothing  of  religious  standpoint.  The 
teaching  of  the  truths  and  precepts  of  God's  Word  is  essen- 
tial as  a  safeguard  to  citizenship  and  as  a  means  of  pre- 
serving our  institutions,  which  as  we  shall  see  later  are 
founded  upon  religion. 

This  age  is  characterized  by  zeal  to  know  about  the 
Bible  rather  than  to  know  the  Bible  itself.  Hence  the 
many  commentaries,  ''lesson  helps,''  ''lesson  leaves,"  etc., 
which  are  employed  in  Sunday-school  work.  The  use  of 
these  is  not  condemned  if  they  are  properly  employed  in 
connection  with  the  Bible  itself;  but  they  are  often  employed 
as  a  substitute  for  the  Bible,  and  utilized  in  learning  about 
the  Word,  rather  than  leading  to  a  direct  acquaintance  with 
it.  Higher  criticism  has  occupied  the  attention  of  scholars 
in  recent  years.  While  good  may  ultimately  come  from 
this,  it  must  be  said  that  the  principal  effect  thus  far  mani- 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  315 

fest  has  been  to  lessen  among  the  masses  the  reverence  for 
God's  Word  as  a  statement  of  His  eternal  truth  and  pur- 
pose. We  endorse  Professor  Coe  when  he  says,  "  Happy  the 
man  whose  memory  is  stored  with  truth  in  the  forms  of 
Biblical  phraseology,  for  he  has  constant  means  of  self- 
expression,  and  therefore  of  self- understanding." 

Instruction  concerning  reverence  and  the  Bible,  in  a 
measure,  at  least,  falls  within  the  province  of  the  school. 
The  other  lessons  indicated  as  essential,  namely,  prayer, 
conception  of  religion,  and  initiation  to  the  forms  and 
ceremonies  of  religion,  must  be  wholly  relegated  to  other 
agencies.  Therefore  only  brief  reference  will  be  made  to 
them,  although  they  constitute  an  important  part  in  a 
complete  education. 

3.  Prayer.  —  As  religion  is  a  universal  instinct,  so 
prayer,  which  is  the  expression  of  the  needs  and  desires  of 
the  soul,  which  by  its  very  nature  implies  faith  —  belief  in 
the  Being  addressed  —  and  which  embraces  adoration, 
supplication,  confession,  and  thanksgiving,  should  be  taught 
to  every  child  as  a  part  of  his  education,  his  duty,  and  his 
privilege;  almost  as  soon  as  the  child  begins  to  talk  it  learns 
to  lisp  its  simple  prayer.  Hence  to  the  home  belongs  the 
supreme  duty  of  teaching  this  religious  exercise. 

4.  A  Conception  of  Religion,  —  ''Religion,"  asserts 
Rosenkranz,  ''in  common  with  every  spiritual  activity,  must 
pass  through  three  stages  —  feeling,  conception,  and 
comprehension.  Whatever  the  special  character  of  any 
religion  may  be,  it  cannot  avoid  the  psychological  neces- 
sity, either  in  its  general  history  or  in  the  history  of  the 
individual."     Conception  of  religion  must  not  stop  with 


3l6  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

feeling,  though  this  may  be  the  earliest  form  of  its  experience 
and  expression.  It  must  go  forward  to  such  knowledge  and 
such  trust  in  God  as  will  enable  the  individual  not  only  to 
consecrate  himself  to  God's  service,  but  will  also  lead 
him  to  be  reconciled  to  the  will  of  the  Almighty  even  in  the 
midst  of  adversity.  Religious  feeling  may  exalt  tempora- 
rily to  a  high  state  of  ecstasy,  but  comprehension  has  been 
reached  only  when  the  soul,  whatever  the  trials  of  life,  is 
able  fully  to  accept  the  words  of  the  Apostle  when  he  says, 
"And  we  know  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to 
them  that  love  God.'' 

5.  Initiation  into  Religious  Forms,  —  Lastly,  education 
requires  the  child  to  be  acquainted  with  the  forms  and 
ceremonies  of  the  church  and  to  be  inducted  into  church 
membership.  Modern  investigation  and  experience  have 
disproved  Rousseau's  theory,  which  holds  that  Emile  at 
fifteen  "will  know  nothing  of  history,  nothing  of  humanity, 
nothing  of  art  and  literature,  nothing  of  God."  At  this 
age  Rousseau  asserts  that  Emile  does  not  even  know  that 
he  has  a  soul,  and  he  thinks  that  perhaps  the  eighteenth 
year  even  is  too  early  for  him  to  learn  this  fact.  The  great 
Italian  priest,  Rosmini,  had  a  truer  conception  of  the  child 
and  its  ability  to  enter  into  the  thought  and  experience  of 
religious  life.  He  writes  as  follows :  ^  "  Truly  it  is  in  vain  that 
Rousseau  pretends  that  worship  of  God  is  beyond  the 
hsping  of  the  infant  tongue.  On  the  contrary,  the  little 
child,  as  if  nearer  to  its  origin,  seems  to  turn  towards  it 
with  delight,  to  seek  it  with  eagerness,  and  to  find  it  more 
easily  even  than  the  adult;  and  it  belongs  to  God  rather 

*  "  Method  in  Education,"  p.  161. 


RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  317 

than  to  man  to  impart  himself  to  the  simple  soul  that 
knows  nothing,  yet  understands  its  Maker." 

This  part  of  the  duty  of  education  is  surely  as  genuinely 
essential  as  to  teach  youth  how  to  win  their  daily  bread; 
how  to  seize  life's  opportunities;  how  to  obtain  pleasure 
and  inspiration  from  literature,  history,  or  art;  how  to 
meet  the  responsibilities  of  patriotic  citizenship,  even  though 
it  belongs  to  other  agencies  than  the  school. 

Agencies  of  Religious  Instruction.  —  The  principal  instru- 
mentalities of  religious  instruction  are  the  home,  the 
church,  and  the  school;  or  the  "trinity  of  divinely  ordained 
institutions,  the  home,  the  Church,  and  the  State,''  the 
school  representing  the  last.  Under  primitive  conditions, 
when  the  whole  duty  of  instruction  could  be  undertaken 
by  the  parents,  we  know,  concerning  the  Hebrews  espe- 
cially, that  the  children  were  taught  the  Ten  Commandments, 
the  laws  of  Moses,  the  prophecies  and  promises  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  history  of  the  race,  the  duties  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  public  worship,  and  the 
traditions  of  their  people.  In  modern  times  the  school 
has  largely  relieved  the  home  of  secular  education,  and  in 
far  too  many  cases  parents  have  also  absolved  themselves 
from  the  reHgious  training  of  their  children,  a  duty  that 
belongs  peculiarly  to  them  and  that  cannot  be  entirely 
thrown  upon  any  other  agency.  Some  of  the  greatest  of 
the  world's  benefactors  —  Chrysostom,  Augustine,  Wesley, 
Ruskin,  Moody  —  have  testified  to  the  profound  impression 
made  upon  them  by  the  religious  teaching  of  their  mothers. 

The  tendency  is  to  turn  the  religious  training  of  children 
over  to  the  Sunday  school  as  the  secular  training  is  turned 


3l8  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

over  to  the  day  school,  and  this  is  utterly  inadequate  to 
perform  the  work  of  proper  religious  instruction.  There  is 
no  disposition  to  minimize  the  work  of  the  Sunday  school, 
which  is  certainly  doing  a  noble  work.  But  it  has  most 
serious  limitations.  Its  sessions  are  held  once  a  week  for 
about  an  hour;  attendance  is  irregular;  the  children  rarely 
make  a  thorough  study  of  the  lesson  —  often  none  at  all ; 
the  lessons  themselves  are  not  graded  to  suit  the  capacity 
of  the  children,  usually  the  same  lesson  is  given  to  imma- 
ture children  and  adult  men  and  women;  the  lessons  are 
often  scrappy  and  disconnected;  the  teachers  are  usually 
untrained,  lacking  pedagogical  skill,  and  this  skill,  under 
the  unfavorable  circumstances,  is  doubly  essential;  and 
finally,  it  reaches  less  than  fifty  per  cent  of  the  children  of 
our  land. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Sunday  school  is  truly  educa- 
tional in  so  far  as  it  inculcates  the  spirit  of  worship  through 
its  songs,  its  study  of  the  Word  of  God,  its  various  religious 
exercises,  and  its  associations. 

Because  of  its  limitations  even  with  those  it  reaches,  and 
because  less  than  half  of  the  children  are  enrolled  in  its 
ranks,  the  Sunday  school  is  not  a  sufficient  or  adequate 
means  for  the  religious  education  of  the  young  of  our  land. 

The  third  instrumentality  of  religious  instruction  is  the 
school.  In  private  schools  under  denominational  control 
such  instruction  may  be  freely  given.  But  private  schools 
reach  only  about  seven  per  cent  of  the  children  in  our 
elementary  and  secondary  schools.  Ninety-three  per  cent 
attend  public  schools  where  religious  dogmas  may  not  be 
taught.  Parents  are  jealous  of  their  religious  beliefs  and 
there  must  be  no  attempt  in  the  public  school,  concealed 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  319 

or  otherwise,  to  teach  any  distinctive  creed.  Upon  this 
point  the  American  people  agree  with  great  unanimity. 

The  pubUc  school  is  supported  by  taxing  the  property 
of  all  classes  of  people  without  respect  to  religious  belief. 
It  has  done  more  to  unify  our  citizens  and  cement  them  into 
a  strong,  homogeneous,  and  patriotic  whole,  than  any 
other  institution.  The  introduction  of  creeds  would  dis- 
rupt our  school  system  to  its  very  foundation;  hence  the 
wisdom  of  our  forefathers  in  excluding  doctrinal  instruc- 
tion. The  discussion  of  rehgious  dogmas  always  stirs  men 
to  the  very  depths  —  some  of  the  most  dreadful  wars  of 
history  have  been  rehgious  wars  —  and  therefore  even  if 
the  law  did  not  forbid  its  introduction,  it  would  be  unwise 
to  endanger  the  harmony  of  that  institution  where  children 
of  all  classes  meet  as  on  one  common  ground. 

But  if  creeds  may  not  be  taught  in  the  public  school,  does 
it  follow  that  religion  in  the  truest  sense  is  excluded?  Are 
these  institutions  ** Godless, "  as  has  been  charged?  There 
are,  says  White,  ^^At  least  three  avenues  open  for  the 
introduction  of  religious  ideas  and  sanctions  into  our 
schools.  These  are  sacred  song,  the  literature  of  Christen- 
dom, and,  best  of  all,  faithful  and  fearless  Christian  teachers, 
the  living  epistles  of  the  Truth.  Against  these  there  is  no 
law."  So  long  as  the  great  body  of  teachers  are  righteous 
in  their  practices  and  true  believers  in  God,  the  schools  can 
never  be  "Godless"  nor  destitute  of  real  religion. 

The  State  and  Religion.  —  There  is  a  confusion  of  terms 
which  is  partly  responsible  for  the  wide  differences  of 
opinion  among  the  masses  and  among  thinking  men,  both 
as  to  the  problem  of  religious  instruction  and  its  solution. 


320  ELEMENTARY   PEDAGOGY 

The  terms  religion  and  church  are  employed  as  synonyms, 
and  the  real  meaning  of  religion  is  often  obscure  in  the 
minds  of  many.  Hon.  William  M.  Lanning^  has  offered 
some  original  and  valuable  suggestions  concerning  the 
relation  of  the  State  to  religion  which  tend  to  clarify  this 
subject.  He  holds  that  while  Church  and  State  are  sep- 
arate, religion  and  the  State  are  not  separated.  He  shows 
that  the  history  of  the  development  of  our  national  and 
State  constitutions  abounds  with  examples,  expressed  and 
implied,  in  which  God  is  recognized,  and  adds,  "We  find, 
then,  that  the  separation  of  Church  and  State  in  the  Ameri- 
can republic  has  not  led  to  a  Godless  or  non-religious  State. 
The  State  believes  that  the  God  of  the  Bible  is  our  Supreme 
Ruler,  that  He  administers  justice  perfectly,  and  that  He 
bestows  upon  us  individual  and  national  blessings.  She 
believes  that  He  punishes  perjury,  and  therefore  requires 
her  officials  to  bind  their  consciences  by  calling  upon  Him 
to  hear  and  witness,  and  help  them  to  perform,  their 
promises  of  faithful  performance  of  official  duty.  She 
appoints  ordained  servants  of  that  God  to  lead  her  legisla- 
tors to  the  throne  of  grace  to  ask  for  national  and  State 
favors.  There  are  principles  and  practices  in  every  depart- 
ment of  our  federal  and  State  governments  that  pubHsh  to 
the  world  that  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  is 
the  God  of  our  government." 

In  the  application  of  these  facts  and  these  principles  to 
the  educational  problem.  Judge  Lanning  further  says, 
*^It  is  not  the  function  of  the  State  to  teach  the  peculiar 
doctrines  of  any  rehgious  sect.  That  is  left  to  the  Church. 
What  the  State  cannot  do  directly  it  should  not  attempt  to  do 

*  Judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court  for  New  Jersey. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  321 

by  indirection.  The  free  public  school  is  an  institution  of 
the  State  and  not  of  the  Church.  It  is  wholly  supported 
by  taxes  and  other  rates  gathered  from  a  people  of  a  great 
variety  of  religious  creeds.  Each  religious  sect  is  free  to 
teach  its  peculiar  doctrines,  but  it  cannot  use  the  free 
public  school  as  an  instrument  in  such  teaching,  nor  should 
it  be  permitted  to  use  any  portion  of  the  public  taxes  for  such 
purpose.  As,  however,  the  State  recognizes  in  her  affairs 
the  overruling  hand  of  God,  so  the  children  in  the  free 
public  school,  it  being  an  institution  of  the  State,  should  be 
taught  to  revere  God.  When  they  take  the  name  of  God 
in  vain  they  should  be  told  that  it  is  wrong  because  God  has 
forbidden  it.  When  they  steal  they  should  be  told  that 
God  has  commanded  us  not  to  steal.  When  they  lie  they 
should  be  told  that  God  has  commanded  us  to  speak  the 
truth.  They  should  be  taught  that  the  Ten  Command- 
ments are  in  force  because  they  came  from  God.  While 
teachers  in  our  public  schools  are  not  permitted  to  teach 
sectarian  religion,  they  have  no  right  to  permit  their  schools 
to  become  Godless,  for  as  the  State  is  not  Godless,  and 
as  it  acknowledges  God's  justice  and  avenging  power,  the 
children  of  the  State  should  not  be  left  in  ignorance  of 
these  great  facts." 

In  addition  to  the  teaching  that  the  Commandments 
must  be  kept  because  they  are  God's  laws.  Judge  Lanning 
concludes,  **The  State  has  no  part  in  teaching  the  doctrines 
which  form  the  basis  of  classification  into  religious  sects. 
But  both  the  State  and  the  public  school  have  a  very  impor- 
tant part  in  the  work  of  teaching  that  men  have  rights  that 
are  God-given  and  duties  that  are  God-imposed,  and  that 
the  measure  of  their  enjoyment  of  these  rights  and  the 


322  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

manner  of  their  performance  of  these  duties  will  be  deter- 
mined by  the  nature  of  their  faith  in  God's  sovereignty, 
justice,  and  providence.  These  three  religious  doctrines 
pervade  our  whole  governmental  history,  and  they  have  a 
vital  place  in  the  State,  and  in  the  public  school,  and  in 
every  other  agency  of  the  State." 

Thus  far  it  would  seem  that  the  pubHc  school  might  go; 
and,  instead  of  stirring  up  sectarian  jealousy,  it  is  believed 
that  parents  would  welcome  such  instruction  as  necessary 
and  fundamental  in  the  complete  education  of  their  children. 
With  wise  and  God-fearing  teachers;  with  the  inculcation 
of  proper  respect  and  reverence  for  sacred  things;  with  an 
insight  into  the  very  nature  of  the  subjects  of  the  curricu- 
lum, all  of  which  may  easily  be  found  to  point  to  an  All- wise 
and  beneficent  Creator,  the  religious  instinct  of  every  child 
may  receive  its  natural  development.  **  There  is  no  sub- 
ject in  the  curriculum,  there  is  no  relation  in  the  life  of  the 
school,  which  is  not  packed  with  potential  divinity,  and 
which  may  not  make  for  morality,"  says  Dr.  Hervey. 

In  the  foregoing  discussion  we  have  attempted  to  show 
the  universality  of  the  principle  of  religion;  that  it  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  education  of  every  man;  what  lessons 
it  includes;  the  agencies  to  whom  is  committed  the  work  of 
teaching  it;  and  the  relation  of  the  State  to  religion.  We 
have  shown  that  the  results  attained  under  present  con- 
ditions are  not  satisfactory,  and  that  thinkers  are  studying 
the  problem  and  seeking  a  plan  whereby  better  results  may 
be  secured. 

Religion  Defined.  —  Perhaps  a  wrong  conception  of  what 
is  meant  by  religion  is  partly  responsible  for  the  confusion 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  323 

that  exists  in  this  field  of  thought.  There  are  doubtless 
many  views  of  religion,  owing  to  the  different  standpoints 
from  which  it  is  considered.  I  ofTer  the  following  view  as 
presented  by  Dr.  Alfred  Wesley  Wishart:^  "But  suppose 
we  deal  with  what  we  have  assumed  to  be  a  fact,  irrespec- 
tive of  the  knowledge  or  consciousness  of  that  fact.  Sup- 
pose man  is  related  to  God,  whether  he  knows  and  feels  it 
or  not;  that  the  laws  of  the  moral  and  physical  world  are 
God's  laws;  that  every  fact  of  nature  tells  us  something 
about  God,  and  that,  when  we  deal  with  these  laws  of 
nature  and  obey  them,  we  deal  with  and  obey  God ;  that  all 
moral  ideals  proceed  from  God,  so  we  cannot  try  to  realize 
any  moral  ideal  without  trying  in  some  degree  to  do  what 
God  wants  us  to  do,  whether  we  know  it  to  be  God's  will 
or  not.  Then  a  man's  religion  is  his  attitude  toward  all 
things  —  toward  God,  nature,  humanity.  What  he  thinks, 
feels,  and  wills  is  his  religion,  because,  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  in  view  of  the  supposition  taken,  a 
man  cannot  think,  feel,  and  act  without  displaying  his 
attitude  toward  God." 

What  the  Public  School  May  Do.  —  If  the  pubhc  school 
will  teach  rehgion  according  to  this  conception,  if  teachers 
will  point  out  the  fact  that  every  good  deed,  every  truth, 
every  pure  thought  emanates  from  God;  if  the  whole  im- 
pulse of  Ufe  and  action  is  directed  to  a  search  after  truth; 
if  the  symmetrical  and  perfect  laws  of  nature  are  shown  to 
be  the  expression  of  an  inteUigent  Creator;  if  the  relation- 
ship of  human  beings  to  each  other  is  founded  upon  love 
and  fosters  the  human  brotherhood  that  Christ  preached 
^  "  Primary  Facts  in  Religious  Thought,"  p.  10. 


324  ELEMENTARY  PEDAGOGY 

and  exemplified:  if  instructors  will  teach  by  theory  and 
practice,  consciously  and  perpetually,  line  upon  line  and 
precept  upon  precept,  these  great  truths,  then  our  children 
will  gain  a  true  and  abiding  conception  of  rehgion.  This 
will  prepare  them  to  be  good  citizens,  good  parents,  good 
neighbors,  good  men  and  women.  It  should  also  make 
easy  the  work  of  the  home  and  the  church  in  leading  them 
to  confession  of  faith  and  admission  into  church  member- 
ship. This  work  can  be  done  without  friction  or  without 
stirring  up  religious  strife ;  indeed,  it  is  the  natural  function 
of  the  school  to  perform  this  work  and  it  cannot  reach  its 
highest  and  truest  aim  unless  it  does  perform  it. 

That  such  teaching,  in  a  measure,  is  already  given  in  the 
American  public  school  is  evident  —  it  could  not  be  other- 
wise with  the  great  body  of  Christian  men  and  women  who 
are  consecrated  to  this  vocation.  But  the  fear  of  arousing 
religious  controversy  —  a  fear  that  has  been  greatly  exag- 
gerated —  has  deterred  the  mass  of  teachers  from  such 
conscious,  definite,  and  thorough  instruction  as  has  been 
suggested  in  the  foregoing  treatment. 

If,  with  Dr.  Wishart,  we  take  religion  to  mean  "man's 
actual  inner  life,  viewed  in  its  relationship  to  God,  in 
which  experience,  thoughts,  feelings,  and  will  are  indis- 
solubly  united,''  surely  no  school  in  the  land  may  be 
debarred  from  teaching  it.  Formal  creeds  and  peculiar 
doctrines  may  be  promulgated  by  other  agencies;  but  the 
essence  of  religion  which  is  love,  charity,  benevolence, 
brotherly  kindness,  honesty,  loving  service,  unselfishness, 
faith  in  God,  and  trust  in  an  all-wise  Providence,  may 
surely  characterize  all  instruction,  and  permeate  all  the 
activities  of  the  school. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  325 

Summary 

L  Religion  is  a  universal  characteristic  of  mankind.  As 
education  includes  the  development  of  the  whole  man,  it 
must  necessarily  include  religious  culture,  which  embraces 
a  spirit  of  reverance,  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  prayer,  a  con- 
ception of  religion,  and  initiation  into  the  ceremonies  of  wor- 
ship. The  agencies  of  religious  instruction  are  the  home, 
the  church,  and  the  school, 

II,  While  the  public  school  may  not  teach  creeds,  in  the 
truest  sense,  it  must  teach  religion,  which  is  recognized  by 
the  State,  Although  Church  and  State  are  separate,  relig- 
ion and  the  State  are  not  separate,  and  therefore  the  public 
school,  the  representative  of  the  State,  must  prepare  the 
children  for  intelligent  citizenship  by  training  the  con- 
science and  by  instructing  them  as  to  the  sovereignty,  justice, 
and  providence  of  God, 

III,  It  is  incumbent  upon  the  teachers  consciously  and 
daily,  through  every  act  of  discipline  and  instruction,  in 
every  subject  of  the  curriculum  to  stimulate  that  inner  life  of 
the  pupils  "  viewed  in  its  relationship  to  God,  in  which 
experience,  thoughts,  feelings,  and  will  are  indissolubly 
united.^^ 


INDEX 


Abstraction,  end  of  education,  237. 

highest  intellectual  power,  42. 

third  step  in  attention,  222. 
Act  of  learning,  259. 
Adams,  on  the  reasoning  of  animals, 

40. 
Agassiz,  on  evolution,  45. 
Aim,  of  education,  8,  11. 
Analysis,  second  step  in  attention, 

221. 
Analytic  method,  iii. 
Apperception,  69. 

process  of,  74. 
Application,  j5nal  step  in  instruction, 

95- 
Apprenticeship,  the    first    stage    in 

instruction,  261. 
Aristotle,  on  education,  9,  29. 
Arnold,  influence  upon  students,  54. 
Association,   the   third   step   in   in- 
struction, 90. 
Athenians,  toys  of,  116. 
Athens,  education  of,  8. 
Athletics,  not  the  purpose  of  educa- 
tion, 13. 
Attention,  aids  perception,  236. 
cannot  long  be  held,  90. 
essential  to  self-activity,  218. 
must  not  be  dissipated,  106.. 
necessary  in  memory,  252. 
practical  suggestions   concerning, 

224. 
vitally  essential,  6. 


Augustine,  studied  educational  prob- 
lems, 182. 

influence  of  mother  of,  317. 
Authority,  of  parent  and  teacher,  151. 

obedience  to  in  will  training,  290. 

Bacon,  inductive  method  of,  30. 

student  of  education,  182. 
Baldwin,  on  culture  epochs,  76. 
Balliet,  on  course  of  study,  268. 
Base-ball,  a  game  to  encourage,  125. 
Basil  the  Great,  on  punishment,  154. 
Basket-ball,  as  a  game,  125. 
Berlin,  free  lunches  for  children  in, 

201. 
Bible,  in  teaching  morals,  304. 

knowledge  of  necessary,  313. 

read  by  Lincoln,  171. 
N.  E.  A.  resolutions  regarding,  309. 
Bittenger,  on  will  power,  289. 
Blind,  acuteness  of,  63. 
Boyle,  Rev.   J.  Richards,  on  char- 
acter, 16. 
Bowen,  on  self -activity,  217. 
Brains,  presumption  of,  160. 
Brooks,  on  attention,  220.  , 

Bulwer-Lytton,   on  abstraction,   43. 
Burgher  school,  purpose  of,  9. 
Butler,  N.M.,  on  college  courses,  269. 

on  departments  of  knowledge,  20. 

on  religious  instruction,  309. 

on  what  constitutes  a  university, 
284. 


z^y 


328 


INDEX 


Capacity,  of  child,  159. 

shows  his  limitations,  263. 
Carr,  on  moral  training,  303. 
Chairs,  of  pedagogy,  33. 
Character,  as  connected  with  habits, 

135- 
definition  of,  16. 
formed  by  habits,  295. 
the  aim  of  education,  12. 
the  result  of  will  training,  301. 
the  influence  of  elementary  school 
upon,  51. 
Charlemagne,  ideas  of  education,  9, 
29. 
student  of  education,  182. 
Child,  content  of  the  mind  of,  277. 
Child   study,    work   it   has    accom- 
plished, 160. 
Children,     average     five     years     in 
school,  174. 
belong  to  home  first  six  years,  183. 
clothing  of,  12. 
three  types  of,  268. 
China,  education  of,  8. 
Chinese,  have  few  toys,  116. 
Christianity,    noblest    of    religions, 

307- 
Church,  paintings  in,  245. 

part  of  in  education,  184. 

separate  from  state,  308. 

silent  influence  of,  195. 
Cicero,  idea  of  education  of,  29. 
Citizenship,  education  prepares  for, 

7- 
Civil  society,  part  of  in  education, 

188. 
Classics,  "Five-cent,"  249. 
Cleanliness,  teaching  of,  206. 
Clothing,  character  of,  205. 
of  children,  121. 


Coler,  on  memorizing  the  Scriptures, 

315- 

on  the  will,  290. 
College,  "People's,"  56. 

courses  offered,  284. 

elective  courses  in,  58. 

possibilities  of  self-help  in,  172. 

value  of  training  of,  176. 
Coe,  on  religion,  307. 
Columbia,  courses  in,  269. 
Combe,  incapacity  of  for  arithmetic, 

163. 

Comenius,  definition  of  education  of, 

9- 

Great  Didactic  of,  267. 

on  experience,  278. 

on  nature  study,  31. 

Orbis  Pictus  of,  239. 

a  student  of  education,  182. 
Commercial  courses,  56. 
Compayr^,  on  science  of  education, 

23- 
Concrete,  abandonment  of,  237. 

judgment  in  use  of,  105. 
Conscience,  definition  of,  302. 
Cook,  on  the  smell,  62. 
Correlation,  essentials  of,  271. 
Council    of    Education,     of     New 

Jersey,  55. 
Course  of  study,  49,  267. 

in  the  high  school,  56. 

nature  of,  270. 

not  limited  to  the  three  R's,  185. 
Creative  imagination,  242. 
Creeds,  may  not  be  taught  in  the 

public  school,  319. 
Criticism,  of  schools,  185. 
Cuba,  teachers  from,  65. 
Culture  Epochs  Theory,  75. 

offers  suitable  literature,  247, 


INDEX 


329 


Deductive  method,  113. 

De  Garmo,  on  course  of  study,  269. 

on  departments  of  knowledge,  19. 

gives  outline  of  field  of  culture,  273. 
Departmental  teaching,  25,  277. 
Development,  harmonious,  12. 

subjects  necessary  for,  19. 

intellectual,  216. 
Diesterweg,  on  method,  loi. 

on  self -improvement,  108. 
Dickens,  concerning  myths,  247. 
Dodge,  on  value  of  higher  educa- 
tion, 176. 
Dulness,  not  incapacity,  161. 

necessitates  persistency,  264. 
Duty,  obedience  to,  296. 

Ear,  training  of,  61,  241. 
Edson,  on  memory  gems,  251. 
Educating,  compared  with  training, 

35- 
Education,  advantages  of  higher,  1 75. 

aim  of,  8. 

a  process  of  cancellation,  259. 

best  attained  under  free  institu- 
tions, 300. 

cannot  omit  religion,  310. 

definition  of,  12. 

Dr.  Green's  definition  of,  19. 

duty  of,  182. 

German  conception  of,  11. 

importance  of,  181. 

is  from  within^  36. 

has  to  do  with  habits,  148. 

material  means  of,  171. 

of  primitive  sires,  180. 

philosophy  of,  3. 

possible  to  man  alone,  47. 

process  of,  83. 

the  two  ends  it  should  reach,  173. 


Educators,  recognize  pedagogy  as  a 

science,  33. 
thoughts   of   concerning   religious 

instruction,  308. 
Election,  in  the  elementary  school, 

50- 
in  the  high  school,  55. 

Elective  studies,  49. 

Elementary  school,   election  in,   50. 
ends  it  should   accomplish,    274. 

Eliot,  George,  on  precocity,  265. 

Eliot,  President,  on  departments  of 
knowledge,  20. 

Emancipation,  the  purpose  of  edu- 
cation, 159. 

Erasmus,      concerning      education, 

30- 
self-control  of,  171. 
Ethics,  embraced  in  pedagogy,  6. 

relation  to  the  will,  288. 
Experience,  as  a  means  of  learning, 
277. 
value  of,  I. 
Evolution,  Agassiz's  idea  of,  46. 
Eye,  training  of,  240. 

Factors,    in    the    education    of    the 

child,  180. 
Fads,  discussion  of,  185. 
Fairy  tales,  use  of,  247. 
Family,  must  teach  obedience,  291. 
Fatigue,   statistics  concerning,    207. 
Fenelon,  anticipated  Froebel,  31. 
employed   the   principle   of   play, 

117. 
Field-work,   at   Jena  battle-ground, 

80. 
Finding    relations,    fourth    step    in 

attention,  233. 
Food,  knowledge  of  essential,  203. 


330 


INDEX 


Formal  steps,  of  instruction,  84. 
Francke,  definition  of  education  of, 

9- 

on  training  teachers,  31. 
Franklin,  self-control  of,  171. 
Freedom,  definition  of,  291. 

false  conception  of,  299. 

gained  through  obedience  to  law, 

151- 
Froebel,  definition  of  education  of, 

10. 
on  the  clothing  of  children,  121. 
on  self -activity,  164,  217. 
utilized  play,  117. 

Gambling,  definition  of,  126. 

Games,  the  ones  to  be  encouraged, 
125. 
teacher's  part  in,  127. 

Goethe,    gives   his    own    character- 
istics, 66. 

Golden  Rule,  to  be  applied  in  games, 

125- 
Goldsmith,  limitations  of,  162. 
Government,  dishonesty  in,  192. 

must  protect  its  citizens,  300. 
Grant,  character  of,  17. 

on  music,  162. 
Grecian  games,     copied     at     Jena, 

128. 
Greeks,  games  of,  116. 
Green,   definition   of  education   of, 

19. 
Greenwood,  on  memory,  250. 

on  pedagogical  literature,  32. 

on  science  of  education,  22. 
Griesbach,  concerning  fatigue,  211. 
Griggs,  on  knowledge  of  the  Bible, 

Sis- 
Gymnastics,  purpose  of,  212. 


Habits,  and  their  formation,  6,  S^^ 

IS5- 

changing  of,  147. 

choice  of,  142. 

definition  of  habit,  136. 

established  in  the  home,  183. 

formed  in  early  life,  52. 

inculcated    by    school    discipline, 
167. 

of  industry,  231. 

necessary  in  fixing  will  power,  295, 
Hall,  G.  Stanley,  on  bodily  hea>h. 
199. 

on  memorizing,  250. 
Hamilton,     Sir    W.,    definition    of 

science,  25. 
Harris,  Dr.,  on  attention,  224. 

on  the  average  schooling  of  the 
child,  261. 

on  the  adaptation  of  material,  103. 

on  conscience,  302. 

on  course  of  study,  272. 

on  criticism  of  the  schools,  187. 

on  departments  of  knowledge,  20. 

on  different  virtues,  297. 

on  forming  habits,  148. 

on  the  professionally  taught,  265. 

on  the  social  code,  293. 

on  the  value  of  education,  176. 
Health,  exercises  for,  213. 
Herbart,  Culture  Epochs  Theory  of, 

175- 
made  education  a  science,  31. 
on  self-activity,  164. 
Herbartian  School,    lays    stress    on 
character  building,  301. 
theory  of  as  to  material,  75. 
Hervey,  on  religious  instruction,  322. 

on  self -activity,  216. 
High  School,  election  in,  55. 


INDEX 


331 


History  of  Education,  character  of, 

2. 
Home,  part  of  in  instruction,  281. 

present  duty  of,  183. 

relation  to  playthings,  133. 

should  train  to  freedom,  300. 

under  early  conditions,  180. 
Hopkins,  Mark,  influence  of,  54. 
Home,  on  self -activity,  217. 
Hughes,     comparing    Froebel    and 
Herbart,  164. 

concerning  self -activity,  219. 

Illustration,    care   in   using   of,    87, 

104. 
Illustrations,  increased  employment 

of,  245. 
Imagination,  6,  38. 

cultivation  of,  244. 

definition  of,  241. 
Incapacity  vs.  dulness,  161. 
India,  education  of,  8. 
Inductive  method,  112. 
Industry,  to  be  utilized,  228. 
Insanity,  law  regarding,  202. 
Instinct,  of  animals,  37. 
Instruction,  agencies  of,  281. 

a  process  of  cancellation,  259. 

as  to  foods,  203. 

elements  of,  109. 

errors  in,  81. 

in  the  family,  292. 

in  morals,  303. 

in  religion,  317. 

in  social  usages,  292. 

method  of,  226. 

oral,  277. 

principal  work  of  the  school,  261. 

process  of,  81. 

what  is  presupposed  in,  102. 


Intellectual,  development,  216. 

habits,  138. 

must  have  the  chief  attention,  14. 

not  alone  to  be  considered,  12. 
Interest,  essential  to  attention,  225. 
Isolation,  the  first  step  in  attention, 
220. 

James,  Prof.,  on  attention,  219. 

on  psychology,  4. 
Jena,  gymnastic  exercises  at,  128. 

field-trip  to  battle  ground  of,  80. 
Jesuits,  ideas  of  education  of,  30. 

Ratio  Studiorum  of,  75,  267. 
Jews,  education  of,  8. 
Johnson,  Dr.,  on  interest,  225. 
Journeymanship,   the   second   stage 
in  education,  261. 

Kant,  definition  of  method  of,  2. 
Keller,  Helen,  acuteness  of,  63. 

capacity  of,  163. 
Kern,  on  logical  summaries,  91. 
Kindergarten,    dangers    in    to    be 

avoided,  117. 
Knowledge,  acquirement  of  a  slow 
process,  259. 

gained  through  the  senses,  6^, 

to  be  practically  used,  97. 

the  first  essential,  100. 

work  of  teacher  in  gaining,  72. 

Lange,  on  apperception,  69,  74. 

on  method,  10 1. 

on  need  of  formal  instruction,  84. 

on  summarizing,  92. 

on  the  child  and  his  experience,  78. 

on  what  the  teacher  can  do,  80. 
Languages,  should  be  begun  early, 
283. 


332 


INDEX 


Lanning,  on  religion  in  the  schools, 

320. 
Law,  growing  disregard  for,  151. 

respect  for  a  part  of  education,  191. 
Laziness,  relative  rather  than  abso- 
lute, 229. 
Learning,  act  of,  259. 

means  of,  277. 
Leipsic,  lesson  as  to  food  at,  203. 
Leonardo,  "Last  Supper"  of,  242. 
Limitations,  educational,  159. 
Limits,  of  education,  175. 
Lincoln,  character  of,  17. 

self-control  of,  171. 
Literature,  in  teaching  morals,  304. 

in  training  the  imagination,  245. 
Locke,  definition  of  education  of,  9. 

on  keeping  the  attention,  228. 

student  of  education,  182. 

sound  mind  in  a  sound  body,  198. 
Logical  power,  training  of,  254. 
London,  efforts  of  for  poor  children, 

201. 
Lukens,  on  fatigue,  210. 
Luther,  a  student  of  education,  182. 
Lyon,  Mary,  influence  of,  54. 

Maclaren,  relation  of  mind  to  body, 
200. 

Management  of  school,  belongs  to 
the  teachers,  285. 

Mann,  Horace,  concerning  health, 
200. 

Marble,  Dr.,  on  capacity,  160. 

Marble-playing,  control  of,  126. 

Marden,  on  dulness,  162. 

Martin,  Geo.  H.,  on  Washington,  17. 

Manual  training,  purpose  of,  188. 

Mastership,  the  final  step  in  edu- 
cation, 262. 


Material,  choice  of,  64,  75. 

old  to  be  utilized,  69. 

selection  of,  161. 
McClure,  on  character,  18. 

on  choice  of  habits,  143. 
McKinley,  character  of,  17. 
McMurry,  on  abstraction,  43. 

on  apperception  71 

on  applying  the  lesson,  97. 

on  science  of  education,  27. 
Memory,  Dr.  Johnson  on,  225. 

too  much  neglected,  139 

rules  to  be  committed,  93. 

training  of,  251. 

when  most  retentive,  250. 
Method,  a  guide,  103. 

definition  of,  2,  106. 

imparting  method,  262. 

importance  of,  226. 

teacher  a  factor  in,  106. 

the  catechetical,  281. 

three  elements  of,  109. 
Methods,  different  kinds  of,  no. 

in  German  schools,  11. 

of  instruction,  100. 
Mind,  affected  by  the  body,  198,  201. 
Mohra,  incident  at,  79. 
Montaigne,  on  health,  199. 
Moral,  habits,  139. 

not  alone  to  be  trained,  12. 

must  not  be  neglected,  14. 
Moral  training,  in  the  school,  303. 
Morals,  effect  of  upon  a  community, 
190. 

effect  of  upon  health,  199. 

fostered  by  employment,  167. 

in  good  literature,  249. 

involve  will  training,  296. 
Muller,  on  abstraction,  43. 
Munger,  on  a  sound  body,  199. 


INDEX 


333 


Munsterberg,   on   the   child*s   apti- 
tudes, 50. 
Myths  and  fairy  tales,  247. 

Napoleon,  at  Jena,  80. 

National  Educational  Association,  33. 

Reports  of,  268. 

on  use  of  the  Bible,  309. 
New  Jersey  Council  of  Education,  55. 

course  of  study  of,  268. 
Newton,  on  power  of  attention,  220. 
New  York,  vital  statistics  in,  214. 
Normal  School,  training  of,  107. 
Nourishment,    necessary    for   intel- 
lectual work,  201. 

Obedience,    first    essential    in    will 
training,  290. 

to  become  a  habit,  149. 

to  duty,  296. 
Objects,  care  in  choosing,  105. 

use  of,  237. 
Object  teaching,  employment  of,  236. 
Objective  limit,  of  education,  171. 
Olympian  games,  116. 
Oral    instruction,    as    a    means    of 
learning,  277. 

direct  means  of  instruction,  280. 
O'Shea,  on  science  of  education,  24. 
Overton,  on  foods,  205. 

Parents,  criticisms  of,  185. 

must  teach  obedience,  290. 

part  of  in  education,  281. 
Parker,  Col.,  on  attention,  219. 

on  a  lazy  child,  228, 

on  his  own  limitations,  162. 

on  laws  of  health,  199. 

on  the  purpose  of  the  school,  119. 
Paris,  care  for  indigent  children  in, 
201. 


Patriotism,  how  fostered,  193. 
Paulsen,  on  playthings,  131. 
Payne,  Joseph,  on  psychology,  3. 
Payne,  W.  H.,  on  science  of  educa- 
tion, 27. 
Pedagogy,  according  to  Rosenkranz, 

5- 
definition  of,  7. 
field  of,  6. 

knowledge  of  necessary,  i. 
relation  to  psychology,  3. 
Perception,   upon   what  dependent, 

234. 
Persia,  education  of,  8. 

toys  of,  116. 
Personality,  of  the  teacher,  107,  227. 
Pestalozzi,    definition    of   education 
of,  10. 

influence  of  upon  Froebel,  117. 

on  harmonious  development,  31. 

on  method,  loi. 

service  of,  72. 

student  of  education,  182. 
Phases  of  education,  in  summary,2i. 
Philosophy  of  education,  3. 
Physical,  habits,  136. 

not  alone  to  be  trained,  12,  198. 

rules  of  physical  exercise,  213. 

signs  of  fatigue,  208. 
Picture  books,  value  of,  79. 
Pictures,  use  of,  238. 
Pisa,  lesson  from  tower  of,  136. 
Plato,  ideas  of  education  of,  182. 
Play,  as  an  educational  factor,  116. 

definition  of,  122. 

does  not  cease  with  childhood,  130. 

meaning  of,  121. 

purpose  of,  124. 

teacher's  influence  in,  53. 

to  lead  to  self-employment,  167. 


334 


INDEX 


Playthings,    educational    value    of, 

Politeness,  nature  of,  293. 

Prayer,  to  be  taught  in  the  home , 

315- 
Preparation,  the  first  step  in  instruc- 
tion, 84. 
Presentation,    the    second    step    in 

instruction,  88. 
Prizes,  in  school  at  Jena,  128. 
Professionally  taught,  advantages  of, 

265. 
Program,  arrangement  of,  275. 
Psychology,  limitations  of,  4. 
in  relation  to  pedagogy,  2. 
in  relation  to  the  will,  288. 
Public  school,  may  not  teach  relig- 
ious creeds,  15,  319,  320. 
Punishment,  definition  of,  158. 
principles  governing,  152. 
sometimes  necessary,  152. 

Quintilian,  concerning  education,  9, 
30- 

Rabelais,  anticipated  Spencer,  30. 
Raphael,    "Sistine    Madonna"    of, 

242. 
Ratke,  anticipated  Rousseau,  30. 
Reason,  discussion  of,  6,  253. 

of  animals,  39. 

must  not  be  cultivated  too  early, 

ISO- 
Recapitulation,   the   fourth   step  in 

instruction,  91. 
Recess,  necessity  of,  276. 
Recitation,  length  of,  226. 
Recreation,  essential  also  for  adults, 

131. 
Rein,  on  Froebel  and  Herbart,  31. 


Religion,  a  part  of  education,  15. 

a  universal  principle,  307. 

conception  of,  315. 

definition  of,  322. 

in  the  state  school,  184,  323. 
Religious   education,    what   it   em- 
braces, 312. 
Religious  habits,  140. 
Religious   instruction,    agencies   of, 

317- 
Repetition,  essential  in  memory,  252. 
Report  of  Committee  of  Ten,  267. 
Republic,     education    essential     to 

perpetuity  of,  191. 
Rest,  necessity  of,  207. 
Reverence,  essential  to  good  breed- 
ing, 312. 
Reynolds,  Sir  J.,  idleness  of,  230. 
Roark,  on  methods,  100. 

on  science  of  education,  24. 
Rogers,  on  the  kindergarten,  119. 
Rome,  education  of,  9. 
Rosenkranz,  definition  of  education 

of,   II. 

definition  of  sense-perception  of, 

233- 
on  absolute  limit,  174. 
on  adaptation  of  material,  103. 
on  attention,  228. 
on  conception  of  religion,  315. 
on  cleanliness,  206. 
on  daily  program,  276. 
on  freedom,  299. 
on  gymnastics,  212. 
on  habits,  135. 
on  ideals  of  duty,  292,  296. 
on  imagination,  241. 
on  instruction,  259. 
on  industry,  230. 
on  kinds  of  punishment,  152,  156. 


INDEX 


335 


Rosenkranz.  —  Continued. 

on  literature,  246. 

on  mastership,  263. 

on  mind  and  body,  202. 

on  pedagogy,  5. 

on  personality  of  the  teacher,  106. 

on  self -activity,  216. 

on  the  self-taught,  266. 

on  the  objective  limit,  171. 

on  the  three  stages  of  development, 
261. 

on  training  the  memory,  252. 

on  the  use  of  pictures,  238. 

on  the  value  of  text-books,  279. 

on  what  is  presupposed  in  instruc- 
tion, 102. 

on  "Who  can  be  educated?"  35. 
Rosmini,  on  attention,  219. 

on  culture  epochs,  76. 

on  errors  in  instruction,  81. 

on  material  to  be  given,  73. 

on  religious  instruction,  316. 

on  training  the  perceptions,  72. 
Rousseau,  as  student  of  education, 
182. 

false  ideas  of  religious  instruction 
of,  316. 

on  physical  exercise,  199. 

on  punishment,  154. 
Rules,  should  be  learned,  93. 

use  of,  256. 
Ruskin,  influence  of  mother  upon, 

317- 

Schmidt,  Karl,  on  educational  pro- 
gress, 29. 
School,  as  agency  of  instruction,  282. 

chief  work  of,  261. 

may  teach  reUgion,  319. 

must  not  teach  creed,  308. 


School.  —  Continued. 

must  be  aided  by  other  factors, 
197. 

purpose  of,  83. 

shapes  future  of  a  people,  133. 

teaches  conventionalities  of  edu- 
cation, 186. 

theory  of  punishment  of,  54. 

what  it  must  accomplish,  274. 

who  shall  manage,  285. 
School  management,  2. 
Schools,  different  kinds  of,  283. 
School  boards,  function  of,  285. 
Schurz,  Karl,  reminiscences  of,  235. 
Science,  definition  of,  25. 

of  education,  22,  28. 
Scott,  Sir  W.,  limitations  of,  162. 
Self -activity,  discussion  of,  6,  164. 

essential  to  success,  216. 

illustrated  in  play,  130. 

taught  by  Froebel,  217. 
Self-control,  on  evidence  of  educa- 
tion, 169. 

of  American  people,  170. 

to  be  taught,  157. 
Self-employment,  educational  value 

of,  166. 
Self-government,  children    to  be  led 
to,  157. 

prepares  for  freedom,  300. 

the  ultimate  aim  of  will  training, 
298. 
Self-impTovement,       essential       to 

method,  107. 
Self-taught,  advantages  of,  265. 
Seneca,  definition  of  education  of,  9. 

on  character  of  the  teacher,  29. 
Sense    perception,    discussions    of, 

233. 
of  animals  and  man,  38. 


336 


INDEX 


Senses,  knowledge   gained   through, 

60. 
Shaw,  course  of  study  of,  268. 
Smell,  cultivation  of,  61. 
Smith,     on     creative     imagination, 

243- 

on  habits,  148. 

on  methods,  iii. 

on  power  of  the  will,  289. 
Social  usages,  in  will  training,  291. 
Society,  part  of  in  education,  188. 
Socrates,    ideas    of    education    of, 

182. 
Soldan,  on  science  of  education,  22. 
Sparta,  education  of,  8. 

toys  of,  116. 
Special  schools,  285. 
Specialist,  purpose  of,  51. 
Spencer,  anticipated  by  Seneca,  9. 

definition  of  education  of,  10. 

on  capacity  of  the  child,  264. 

on  educational  problems,  182. 

on  punishment,  154. 
Springfield,  examination  in  schools 

of,  186. 
State,  must  enforce  law,  193. 

not  separate  from  religion,  319. 

part  of  in  education,  191. 

separate  from  church,  308. 

theory  of  punishment  of,  153. 
Statistics,  of  fatigue,  207. 

of  health,  214. 
Story,  school  garden  of,  168. 

school  of  at  Jena,  128. 
Sturm,  course  of  study  of,  267. 
Subject-matter,  3. 

Sunday  school,  fosters  religious  edu- 
cation, 184. 

limitations  of,  317. 
Synthetic  method,  in. 


Taste,  for  literature  acquired,  248. 

training  of,  61. 
Tate,  on  science  of  education,  26. 
Teacher,  The  Great,  Golden  Rule 
of,  293. 

teachings  of,  30. 
Teacher,  a  fountain  of  knowledge, 
II. 

great  work  of,  178. 

influence    of    in    forming    char- 
acter, 51. 

is  not  the  method,  loi. 

must  arouse  self -activity,  218. 

must  seek  two  ends,  175. 

must  employ  tact,  230. 

part  of  in  games,  127. 

personality  of,  106,  227. 

relation  to  playthings,  133. 

self -improvement  of,  108. 

should  watch  the  reading,  249. 

work  of  in  gaining  knowledge,  72. 

work  of  in  teaching  religion,  322. 

work  of  in  training  the  will,  289. 
Teaching,  of  morals,  183,  304. 

the  process  of,  81. 
Temptation,    child    to    be    guarded 

against,  295. 
Text -books,  means  of  learning,  279. 
Thackeray,  on  dulness,  162. 
Theory,  importance  of,  107. 
Thinking,  what  power  it  employs, 

253- 

Tompkins,   on  education   and   reli- 
gion, 310. 
on  self -activity,  217. 

Trade  unions,  arrogance  of,  299. 

Training,  compared  with  educating, 

35- 
of  tiie  will,  288. 
Trenton,  battle' of,  223. 


INDEX 


337 


TroUope,    Anthony,    limitations   of, 

162. 
Tutorial  method,  advantages  of,  281. 

Unions,    must    not    tyrannize    over 

others,  299. 
University,  definition  of,  284. 

Value,  of  higher  education,  175. 
Virtues,  must  all  be  taught,  298. 
Vocation,  a  part  of  education,  189. 

Wagner,  on  fatigue,  207. 

Waitz,  conception  of  education  of ,  11. 

on  pedagogy,  10. 
Wallace,  on  evolution,  46. 
Ward,  on  the  reasoning  of  animals, 

39- 
Washington,  character  of,  17. 

stories  from  life  of,  226. 
Washington,  Booker  T.,  109. 
Waste, from  not  associating  material, 

91. 


Watt,  limitations  of,  162. 

Wellington,  limitations  of,  162. 

White,  on  training  the  will,  296. 

"Who's  Who  in  America,"  lessons 
from,  175. 

Will,  definition  of,  288. 
steps  in  training  of,  290. 

Williams,  on  course  of  study,  267. 

Wilson,  Mrs.,  on  choice  of  material, 
161. 

Wishart,  on  religious  education,  323. 

Withers,  Prof,,  on  work,  129. 

Work,  definition  of,  122. 
vs.  play,  129. 

Written  page,  as  a  means  of  learn- 
ing, 277. 

Yale,  courses  in,  269. 
"Young  America,"  false  idea  of,  194. 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
influence  of,  184. 

Ziller,  on  culture  epochs,  75. 


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